Even after retiring from school after 36 years of devotion to the district, former assistant principal Karen Hyde wakes upeach day at 6 a.m. to check emails, research schools and edit essays.

Hyde currently works as a college admissions counselor in her business, called Hyde Consults, in Los Gatos. She rents what she calls a “closet,” an office without windows, from Now and Forever Studios, where seniors have their senior portraits taken.

“I wanted to be close to Saratoga, as that really is my home base,” she said.

Hyde meets about 30 students a week from Saratoga and other local high schools like Los Gatos, Wilcox, Bellarmine, Valley Christian and Menlo-Atherton High.

Next school year she will spend at least a half day each week in Woodside, where she lives, because she has clients in the area who are now high school juniors.

“I am working with a few kids ‘pro-bono’ who are in need of the same assistance as others, but either don't have parent support or can't afford it—that is a nice ‘perk’ of the job,” she said.

Her work runs from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. during weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, a schedule she claims is busier than the one she had in school. However, she tries to keep Friday evenings open to attend football games at Saratoga and other schools that her clients attend.

“I only come in two speeds: fast and off, and ‘off’ didn't suit me following my graduation,” Hyde said. “So I knew that to be busy, happy and helpful, this would be a rewarding step.”