That opportunity never came, so Boatwright went back to Tech and earned a master's degree in counseling.

He had a three-year stint as a guidance counselor at Brooke Point before becoming assistant principal at Walker-Grant Middle School in Fredericksburg. He returned to Brooke Point five years ago.

Brooke Point Principal Cynthia Holder says Boatwright's counseling background is what makes him such an effective communicator.

Stafford County Deputy Steve Carey agrees. Carey and Boatwright were both instructors at the Stafford County Sheriff's Office annual football camp this past July.

"A lot of people are good communicators," Carey said. "But he has an exceptional ability to communicate."

Holder says as soon as Boatwright speaks, he puts people at ease.

"He just has a way of making people feel better," she says. "He has a very good sense of humor."

Boatwright's caring personality and sense of humor never gets in the way of dishing out proper discipline.

He says discipline is easy to administer because for every infraction there is a necessary action to be taken.

"I'm real with my students," Boatwright said. "I let them know if I think they're giving me a line."

He says he knows what students are thinking about, and he's always able to see things from their perspective. Boatwright says he can still relate to kids because he is young at heart.

"I talk about hip-hop with them," said the 33-year-old Boatwright. "They want to talk about Jay-Z and I'm still thinking about Heavy D. But, it's important to be knowledgeable about those things."

Boatwright says he was once the same type of character as many of his kids who come to his office. He grew up in Northhampton, along the eastern shore of Virginia.

His mother, Alice, gave birth to him, when she was barely a teenager. She was a single mother. However, he was never allowed to use his mother's situation as an excuse to misbehave.

Boatwright is now married and has two kids of his own. His wife, Lisa, is a University of Virginia graduate, Tech's arch rivals.

"My family always comes first," he said. "But, my wife and I get divorced once a year."

To reach TAFT COGHILL JR.: 540/374-5000, ext. 5749 tcoghill@freelancestar.com