 Can you just give me your name? My name is Tana, T-A-N-A. Tana. First and last name and spell that. Ratliff, R-A-T-T-L-I-F-F was in Frank. And your position here at school? I teach special needs. You ready? Yep. Alright. If you could just tell me how did you come to meet in New Dakota? Okay. My first year back teaching here I taught here before and I was transferred to a different school. And I really was hesitant about coming back here and working with high school students. So the first day of school, before school even started, Dakota was at my back door. And I thought, what's this kid doing at my door? You know, I don't know him. Why is he here? So when I opened the door, he said, could I be a peer tutor in your room this year? And I thought, well, I don't have the authority to let you do that, but we'll go through the white channels and maybe we can work that out. So Dakota came to my classroom as a peer tutor for an autistic student. And they formed a wonderful bond. The relationship was great. Dakota was a great role model for him. It was the best school year I've ever had. It worked out wonderful. Can you tell me a little bit more about the relationship between Dakota and the student? Dakota, if you know Dakota very well, he is quite lively. I guess it's the right word. He would wear, we had a body sock that the autistic student wore for kind of calming for him. And he was, he really was reluctant to wearing the suit. So Dakota would wear the suit around in the halls. And other students would think it was our autistic student and Dakota would talk to those students with the suit on. It was really funny. And when the autistic student saw Dakota wearing it, then he decided he would wear it. So they would walk around the halls together and it was great for him. What is it about Dakota that you think the student was drawn to him? Dakota being so outgoing. And, you know, I've told other people, the other teachers in the building didn't get to know Dakota the way that I did because I saw more softer side of him. You know, there's a lot of people when you work with students with disabilities. Some people are really reluctant to get to know them because it scares them because you don't really know, you don't know what they're all about. And Dakota was not scared at all. He came right in, you know, he would talk to him. He would take his hand to walk around the halls with him. And I think that his calm mannerisms when he was around him, I think it was just really, really what the student needed. And what kind of changes did you see in the student after he had stopped going? I'm going to ask it again so that we can have a second in between. What kind of changes did you see in between, what kind of changes did you see in the student after Dakota started hanging out with him? He became more outgoing. The student was mostly non-verbal, basically in his own little world. And once he began roaming around with Dakota, he got a whole lot more outgoing. He was more willing to walk up to people and try to communicate with them. So like I said, it was really good for him. And your first impression of Dakota, the day you met him when he walked up to your back door to, you know, the end of that year, what did you think? Like, was it zero to 180, a complete change? What was your initial impression versus what you actually learned about him? I had never met Dakota, but I had heard other people talk about him. He was a normal, rambunctious senior in high school. So I really was hesitant to have him in this classroom. And I told him the first day I said, you know, if you're going to work with my students, they're like my children. You're going to have to be a good role model. You know, you can't act crazy. You're here for them. And he was really accepted to that. And he did make a lot of changes. You know, he seemed more settled when it was time to graduate. You know, we talked about it. I didn't feel like he was ready for college because he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. And I knew he didn't just need to get a job and hang around here. So I really believe that he became mature enough to go to the Marines and do his job there. What was your initial reaction when you said, hey, I'm going to be a Marine? It scared me because I know when you tell Dakota he can't do something, he's going to do it. You know, one way or another, he's going to do it. So all along I said, you know, I think that'll be fine for you. You know, the structure and the role models that would be there, I thought that would be great for him. And what were your thoughts when you heard that he was going to receive a medal of honor? Honor to know Dakota. Just, just, I felt honored just to have been a part of his life. I wasn't surprised, you know, because I know what kind of person he is. And has this changed him at all? He's more humbled. You know, he's not boastful when Dakota was in high school, he was boastful. But you know, he's not boastful at all. He's humbled by the whole situation. He's handling it very well for his age. And in a sentence or a few adjectives, can you say Dakota Meyer is, but repeat that to me, Dakota Meyer is and then just finish the sentence. That's hard to sum it up. The first thing that comes to mind. Well, he's my hero, you know, but he doesn't want to be a hero because that was the worst day of his life. But I'm very proud of him and I can't, I can't sum it up in one, you know, one word, one sentence. He just means too much to me. Oh, do you have anything to add? I don't know.