I was teaching 6th grade at that time. I had a young girl (she was about 10 or 11 years of age) who was a very gifted student but very quiet. She seldom raised her hand and was very withdrawn. I always wondered why.

One day I was reading a short story from the book “Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul”. All of the stories are targeted for young children to pre-adolescents. Most of the stories only took 5 to 10 minutes to read so they are great fillers to have when you have a few unused minutes of class time remaining.

The story I selected was about a young girl who was being molested by her father and how she found the courage to alert a sympathetic adult who helped her get out of that horrible situation.. The message to the children was to encourage them, if they should find themselves in this situation, to not to be afraid to seek help. I also talked to them and told them that if such a thing should happen to them not to be afraid to seek out a teacher they could trust. I emphasized that any teacher in our building would help them.

The bell rang and all the students filed out for lunch. A few minutes later the girl came back into the room and asked if she could speak to me. I said “ Sure, what’s on your mind?” She said “Its about the story you read. I have been…..” and she broke down in sobbing uncontrollably, unable to get the rest of the words out. I asked her if something had happened to her as I described in the story, she nodded through her sobs. I led her to a chair and told her to wait a minute. I ran to the corridor and grabbed one of my female colleagues who was also a good friend of mine. I told her I had a student in my room who I believed had been molested and could she please come with me. She immediately came into the room and hugged that poor girl.

When she got her somewhat under control, we took her to the office. Meanwhile, I called her mom. (Her mom and I knew each other from interactions throughout the school year so I felt a familiar face would help her get through this.). She immediately came to the school and I told her what we suspected. Of course she was devastated. She broke down in my arms. I held her and said that she needed to pull herself together for her daughter. She wiped her eyes and went into the office. That’s when they discovered the details of what had actually happened.

We subsequently found out she had been sexually molested repeatedly by her uncle. She was so ashamed she hid it from her parents, even when the situation escalated. Unfortunately he was now going after her younger sister! That’s when she knew she had to do something and the story I read gave her that impetus. Her instinct to protect and care for her sibling kicked in.

I think of her often. She is an adult now and I hope the situation didn’t leave her with any lasting trauma. I hope she has adjusted well and is happy. Later, her mom sent me a heartfelt note thanking me for what I had done (I really didn’t do much….I just did what any adult would have done…). Included in that package was a copy of a form filled out by the student nominating me for national “Teacher of the Year”. (If you’re wondering, I didn’t make it…)

-Michael Dibiasio