Shirley Heard Brackett Mathey is a teacher. I finished college with a BS of Home Economics and later became the teach everyone wanted to have. How did I do that? Well, I valued my students and they valued me. Because of the trust issue, I was able to dig into their personal lives and help them, primarily in the classroom, but I would stop class and help a particular person. My degrees helped (Masters in Family Life Education and another in Guidance and Counseling) but the decision that students were important became a theme to me. I arranged classroom for students to talk to each other and when there was a problem, I intervened to help teach the moment. I remember a girl student who was tormented with a boy and they were fighting as they walked into class. I took the two students into my office and said to the girl: "You are not leaving until you make the Alan understand what you are talking about." They hurled messages, but he was secretly smiling about himself. When she realized she had to speak the "TRUTH," she thought for several minutes and then became quite and said "Alan, I am so embarrassed when you say those things, even if they are true." He stopped smiling and he answered. "Jackie, I won't do that anymore." Being able to tell the truth is a mighty sword and it keeps the level of the conversation level.