This article profiles retiring values teacher Gene Doxey and describes his foundational contributions to the students of California's Ramona Unified School District. Every one of the Ramona Unified School District's 7,200 students is eventually funneled through Doxey's Contemporary Issues class, a required rite of passage between elementary school and the hormone minefield of the later grades. It was developed by Doxey in the late 1970s, after California's booming marijuana culture scared the state into requiring mandatory drug-prevention programs at schools. Doxey, then a math and English teacher at Olive Peirce, volunteered for the job, ultimately expanding the course into a mix of developmental science, be-careful-out-there pep talks, and extended self-help metaphors. The roll of students Doxey has influenced stretches back a generation--several in his current class have parents and other relatives who took Contemporary Issues, and at least a dozen Ramona School District employees, including one Olive Peirce assistant principal, are also alumni. In January 2004, preceding his early retirement that June, Doxey was nominated for inclusion in "Who's Who Among America's Teachers" for the third time, a feat all the more remarkable considering that recommendations have to come from high-achieving students in either high school or college, not middle school. But in the run-up to his retirement, Doxey wanted to see what effect he had had on his other students' lives, so he sent out questionnaires to his students from the prior four or five years. Their reflections, often written in the margins, were astonishing. In response after response, the word "friend" showed up again and again. Many former students portrayed Contemporary Issues as an island of empathy in the terrifying sea of middle school. When Doxey walks across the small campus of Olive Peirce, it is not just the kids who throng to him. His approach--removing barriers between teachers and students and encouraging open dialogue on private emotions and nonacademic behavior--has rubbed off noticeably on the rest of the faculty. Further, his stature helped Peirce principal Linda Solis implement a top-to-bottom cultural overhaul of the campus, blending Doxey's empathetic openness with the latest recommendations from books such as Daniel Goleman's "Emotional Intelligence" and Robert Marzano, Jane Pollock, and Debra Pickering's "Classroom Instruction That Works." Following his retirement, Doxey indicated he hopes to return to Pierce on a part-time basis and plans to continue being deeply involved in the community, whether it be through Pierce, his church, or the local 4-H.