What is the most rewarding part of working in the education system? Is it teaching students about a subject you love? Making the school a safe place? For one individual, it is the impact he can make on students that he considers to be the best part of his job.

“I enjoy this job so much because of how much I get to work with students,” Mark Frey, school resource officer (SRO), said. “With adults, a lot of the times if they break the law, they go to court and it’s over. With kids, it’s a lot more about the conversation, and by talking to them I think a lot more of an impact is made. They can learn and move on from the experience.”

Reaching out to students is not always easy, and according to Frey, it can be difficult when students might be reluctant to discuss matters with him. Parents, also, are not always willing to let him meet with their children.

“This job has helped me become a much more patient person,” Frey said. “It’s difficult sometimes to set up meetings with parents and students, because you have to work around so many different schedules to set up a time. Not everyone is always willing to talk to me. Patience and tolerance are two things I’ve learned to be very important.”

Jacobo Hernandez, senior, can attest to the positive impact Frey and his good nature has made on students.  A member of the local police department’s Explorer program, Hernandez has had the opportunity to work with Frey for almost two years, in and outside of school. Frey’s hard work, kindness, and patience have always led the police Explorers to have positive experiences with him, according to Hernandez.

“I learn whenever I work with him. He’s taught me that having a positive outlook can help you solve almost any problem, no matter how difficult,” Hernandez said. “He’s a funny guy and really gets to our level by communicating with us. I’ll definitely miss seeing his face at school.”

Frey interacts with students on the daily as he completes the tasks of SRO, which include providing counseling an consequence to students alongside the deans at the school, and explaining law enforcement’s role in today’s society to students. The SRO also offers the extra police force at larger events at the school to make sure things do not get out of hand.

“[Frey’s] help at games where there are huge crowds of people is amazing,” Ryan Rubenstein, assistant principal, said. “Things like Special Olympics and the football games require lots of police force and are events that couldn’t be successful if the police officer there wasn’t a genuinely great person to be around.”

Frey’s sincere commitment to the job is what makes him such an important resource to the school, according to Rubenstein. His easy-going personality and overall desire to help are important in the overall goal to be a visible source of aid to the student body of the school.

“I think something [the school] tries to do with the specific SRO position is to have someone we feel is comfortable enough to create relationships with students,” said Rubenstein. “We want students to feel comfortable coming up to a police officer and talking to them. [Frey] creates those relationships.”

Frey will officially take leave from the high school after the end of the 2017-2018 school year, due to the school’s rotation policy for the position.

Rubenstein and Frey both hope the SRO to come after Frey shares these same traits. The student body of Lake Zurich is comprised of awesome kids that he’ll be sad to say goodbye to, Frey said, but he has faith that the SRO after him will recognize that. According to Frey, law and order are not what builds a successful resource officer, but a desire to commit to helping the students does.

“This job and helping kids is why I wanted to become a police officer in the first place,” Frey said. “I know that even if next year is my last, I’m going to put my 100% into the job. I hope whoever is after me feels that same way.”