When Ray got his diploma, he felt more confident, and it showed in his walk. He opened up more. He became very positive.

There was a fracture that showed up on the X-ray, but it is an old fracture that occurred when he was in high school. The feeling initially by the people that looked at the X-ray up north was that it looked like a current injury, and if that was the case it was going to be a while.

He fills a big void in our classroom. He reminds the student that without a high school diploma or GED, you're stuck. When you're educated, you have different options.

When he first started taking classes here, he was quiet and shy. He would just quietly slip into class.

When he let it go, I just felt confident it was going in. I call him the silent assassin because he doesn't say much, but when it's time to deliver he can do that. He's hit seven or eight of those in his career.

We've always said we need more than me and Ray. When we get other guys coming on like that, it makes things so much easier.