What began as a brief classroom exercise evolved into a poignant, quiet lesson about empathy for Coach B. Matthew Stiltner’s students.
Parent Paige Howard shared the moment online after her child, Rhys, told her what happened.
Students were asked to write down something that makes them sad or something they are going through. Stiltner shuffled the notes, read them aloud without naming names, and then offered a story or guidance for each one.
“Some of them were really sad and it made me realize that we really don’t know what people are going through,” Paige wrote.
Parents Support Coach’s Idea
She added that Rhys had written about his mamaw’s birthday, a recent loss he’d been quietly carrying that day. “Either way you made a difference in a kid’s life with that one thing you did in class and I’m very much appreciative,” she said.
Stiltner reposted Paige’s message with a short, clear caption: “No explanation needed folks — this is the WHY as to returning to the classroom and staying put.”
He told his students he felt they needed him, and then admitted, “maybe just maybe I needed them as much if not more than they needed me.”
He signed off on the post with, “Y’all have a blessed day, folks — I know mine has been reading this!!!”
Responses poured in from parents, former students, and local residents. Emily Ridener thanked him: “I agree! Thank you for showing them you care! Kenzie loves you!”
Heather Rose wrote that her daughter “came home and told me about this. Such a great thing. She said it made her cry.”
Others praised Stiltner’s approach as a practical way to teach compassion: “Little exercises like this makes such a difference,” one commenter said.
Former students and community members echoed the sentiment. Jon Hammons called him “one of the best.” Storm Stevens said he could “always count on him to have my back.”
Kameron Wilson and Kalie Clark both urged that lessons like this be used more often: “I feel like this should be done more because a lot of kids don’t think about what their classmates are going through,” Clark wrote.
What made the exercise effective was its simplicity and safety: students kept anonymity, but the room still learned the truth, that pain and struggle often hide behind normal faces and small talk.
Stiltner followed each note with a story or a moment of guidance, making the anonymous words land without shaming anyone or forcing confessions.
For families watching the thread, the result was immediate. A student who had been carrying grief that morning didn’t have to keep it entirely to himself.
Classmates walked away with a clearer sense that private troubles can live beside public smiles.
Stiltner’s post, and the reaction to it, is a reminder that school isn’t just about tests and lesson plans.
A five-minute classroom exercise helped students practice empathy, showed parents the quiet work teachers do, and reminded a small town how much a teacher’s attention can matter.
“I need them as much & maybe more than they need me,” Stiltner wrote. For many people who read the thread, that summed it up: teaching is mutual, and sometimes the smallest acts can change the most.
