Saved by Conversation: Marinette, WI students

15 years old, 2 guns, motive unknown – and Wis. student is dead | StarTribune.com.

I just got around to reading the news about the high school gunman and his hostages.  It struck me that the students had the presence of mind and the conversation skills to engage their captor and thus possibly save their own lives.  In the end, the gunman turned his gun on himself and his was the only life lost.

One of Hengel’s best friends started engaging him in conversation and then the rest of the class joined in, talking about “all his favorite things.”

These students know the importance of talking with people about what interests them, a lesson for us all.