Dylane Wallat was only a first-grader in Austin schools when she first felt herself being bullied.

“I had a speech impediment,” she explaned to Austin High School students on Thursday. “It made me feel alone … I kind of felt like I didn’t have a place.”

But Wallet – today a deputy with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office and who lives in Coon Rapids — has worked to find her balance and the wherewithall to stand up to injustice.

Her story was part of a keynote address given Thursday during the women’s History Assembly at Austin High School, sponsored by the Riverland Community College branch of the American Association of University Women.

Her confidence grew slowly. But when unfairly accused of using drugs when she was a sophomore – the School Resource Officer “wouldn’t even listen to my side of the story,” she recalled – she picked up her pride and opted to take classes in Lyle.

“It was the first adult decision of my life,” she said. She graduated from Lyle in 2004.

As a junior, she began to consider joining the Minnesota Army National Guard.

But on her first night in boot camp in North Carolina, “I was scared to death; I thought, ‘What the heck did I get myself into?”

But she found a place in her Army family, who served in Operating Iraqi Freedom. She was a member of the Quick Reaction Force and served on security details — good training for her eventual vocation.

When a friend suggested she become a cop following her deployment, “I said, ‘Are you kidding? No.’”

But as it turned out, it gave her a goal after some lonely months following her return home after her 22-month stint. She moved and studied for a law enforcement degree at Normandale Community College.

She became a correctional officer, then a jailer. She found early that “it was a little bit of a struggle,” she said.  While some men could use brute force to control a suspect, “I had to think critically about what I could do” to do the same thing.

She found her home. She became a deputy and today, has served as an active shooter instructor for schools, churches and businesses — an accomplishment of which she is most proud. And while she has had to listen to a few comments from some colleagues about “she got it (the position) because she is a girl,” she shrugs off the comments.

“I figure, they can think what they want. And I think, ‘Yeah, but I can still outshoot you,” she said, eliciting a large laugh from the crowd.

She is intentional in having a circle of friends and spending time with them. She has other interests — biking, skiing, yoga, gardening among them — because “I have to find a balance” to be happy.She admits she chaffs against the current climate held by some against law enforcement.

She said officers and deputies can take wrong turns but not all law enforcement should be painted with the same brush.

Those moments are outweighed by people who acknowledge her help.

“I might sit up with someone who took an overdose, and I might have a conversation with them — ‘What the heck do you think you’re doing! You need to get your act together.’ And then they might come up a year or two later and thank me — tell me about how they’ve moved on and are doing well, and how important I was to them.”

She grinned

“That’s like no other feeling,” she said.

Students honored by AAUW

Austin High School students Eleanor Hinchcliffe, Sarah Bachmeier, Brock Lawhead and Charles Kanne were honored for their history projects sponsored by the Riverland Community College branch of the American Association of University Women. Each were presented a cash award from AAUW member Sue Grove during the assembly.