Saving Sycamore

<p>The Power of Faith Hope and Relationships</p><p><strong>On September 28 2016 school counselor Molly Hudgens was in her office at Sycamore Middle School when a fourteen-year-old armed with a semiautomatic handgun and an additional magazine of ammunition came to her in the counseling department. </strong>His plan was to kill people on campus. He told Hudgens she was the only person who could talk him out of it. After ninety minutes of talking with the young man and ultimately praying on her knees with him he relinquished the gun with no shots fired and no lives lost.</p><p>In this memoir Hudgens shares the story of that day and the thirty-nine years and 364 days leading up to it that prepared her for the best and worst day of her life. Her story is one of triumph over adversity and hope found in the bleakest of moments. As Hudgens walks readers through the incident she shares how her faith rapport with the student and a strong school community guided her efforts and provided a positive outcome that day.</p><p> </p><p>How do you have compassion for a student sitting in your office with a loaded gun and the desire to kill? <em>Saving Sycamore</em> is the remarkable story of a woman whose compassion was stronger than the homicidal rage in the heart of a desperate student.<strong>—Peter Langman</strong> PhD author of <em>School Shooters: Understanding High School College and Adult Perpetrators</em>; director of Research and School Safety Training Drift Net Securities</p><p><em>Saving Sycamore</em> illustrates Molly’s leadership compassion faith and vulnerability when the members of her school community needed her most on that fateful day and in the aftermath. This is a book about a faith journey.<strong>—Frank DeAngelis</strong> principal of Columbine High School 1996–2014; author of <em>They Call Me “Mr. De”: The Story of Columbine’s Heart Resilience and Recovery</em></p><p><em>Saving Sycamore</em> is a must-read to learn how God worked to truly save lives at Sycamore Middle School.<strong>—Major General William B. Raines Jr.</strong> USA (retired); Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center Executive Board</p>