However, Murray, Zetterquist and several other volunteers and officials from the San Jose Unified School District—particularly Willow Glen's middle and high school—were waiting for Clinton to arrive. This time the longtime volunteer was not just a dinner guest at the Lincoln Avenue restaurant, but the first person to be dubbed Volunteer of the Year at the surprise May 4 celebration.

Murray, superintendent of the San Jose Unified School District, said, "She has such a passion for her schools."

Clinton and Murray met a few years ago when Clinton's daughters—now both high school students—were in elementary school, and Clinton approached Murray to find ways of fixing problems, particularly on how the district managed its finances.

As Clinton's daughters progressed academically, her participation in committees and booster clubs and in coordinating events grew dramatically.

"She's an absolutely incredible woman," Murray said.

Clinton, however, declined to take all the credit.

"I do what I do because I love the schools," she said after getting over the initial shock of seeing so many of her friends and fellow partners show up to congratulate her. But I couldn't do it alone. You're all there in the trenches with me."

Clinton is involved with numerous school organizations such as the high school's athletics booster club, the Willow Glen Middle and High School Foundation, and the Willow Glen High Parent Club. One of the major events she organizes is the high school's annual Career Fair, that allows thousands of Willow Glen High School students have the chance to meet representatives from various professions and recruiters for academies or the military.

"I wish we had more people like her," Murray said.

Jody Zetterquist, the president of the parents club, organized the surprise event and created the Volunteer of the Year title, which she and others thought should go to Clinton for the first ever award.

"Nobody is more deserving," Zetterquist said. "The high school has been through so much in the last few years," she added. Some of those major issues included extensive campus renovations thanks to voters approving bond measures, and dwindling resources and budget cuts. "And Karen has seen us through everything."

And all the attention given to the high school might have been directed toward another institution on the East Coast, if Clinton hadn't come to California on vacation nearly 30 years ago and decided to stay. She came from Boston, Mass., married her husband ,Will, started a family and has been an active volunteer with the middle and high schools for the past six years.

"She's a real go-getter," said Gail Hodgin, who's known Clinton for most of her volunteering career. "She doesn't wait to see what's going to happen, she makes it happen. If there's no committee to do something, she'll create one. People really tend to rally around her."

Clinton said she wants Willow Glen's school to get just as much attention as other schools receive throughout the district.

She explains her enthusiasm and advises anyone else wanting to become more involved in their children's schools, to decide what it is about the schools that they're passionate about and jump on the bandwagon, by either joining parent associations or booster clubs, or creating their own bandwagon.

"There are so many parents who don't volunteer," she said. "It's too bad because it's a great way to be really involved with your children's education and see what's really going on with our schools and actually do something about it."