Pictured is Ronda Reyes-Deutsch receiving her honorary plaque as a dedicated middle school counselor now at Fillmore Middle School. This is being presented by the Executive Director of PDAP, Ginny Connell.

One of Fillmore’s own, Ronda Reyes-Deutsch, was an honoree this past Friday, April 30, 2010 at the “Hope and Healing Celebration” through PDAP (Palmer Drug Abuse Program) of Ventura County. PDAP is an adolescent substance abuse prevention/intervention program that provides counseling support to our youth here in Ventura County. Mrs. Reyes-Deutsch is currently a bilingual school counselor at Fillmore Middle School. She was honored as a dedicated middle school counselor who collaborates with staff, students, parents and the community to provide as full a range of services as possible to convince ‘every’ student of his/her strengths and promise and to motivate the young people to be academically successful with a healthy social/emotional outlook and a focus on career oriented goals. For about twenty years, Ronda was involved in education at many levels: running a day care center, working with severely handicapped children using music therapy, teaching in grades kindergarten through 12th and in adult education. Shortly after completing her Masters Degree in Education with a Credential in School Counseling in 2003, Ronda came to work at PDAP as a Family Advocate in a prevention program at Pacifica High School in Oxnard. She worked with the families of students participating in the program, providing them with all the resources needed to assist them in becoming the “safety net” within which the students could achieve their potential and avoid the risks of substance abuse, violence and academic failure. Two years later, she became a school counselor for the Rio Elementary School District. Currently she is a school counselor at Fillmore Middle School. Ronda has two children, Lui and Arli. She and her husband David met while both were working at PDAP.