Interacting with middle school students may not seem to some as the ideal job, but Deputy Zuly Fleck loves what she does. “I handle peer mediation with kids. I help them with their issues: bullying, name calling, homework. I love helping them out.”

Deputy Fleck also finds herself helping kids deal with gangs and their activities. “I get the parents involved, let them know what’s going on, so they can help the kids also.” Deputy Fleck established a Student Crime Watch program in which kids look out for each other. “There are ten look-out posts in school and we use different codes so that I know who’s skipping school or doing something they shouldn’t be doing.”

Do the kids see her as role model? She laughs, “Yes, they do. And that is what makes my work helping the kids so important and so rewarding.”