Wayland Town Crier 7/2/10: Family of Staff Sgt. Matthew Pucino visits Wayland Middle School. It was appropriate that eighth-graders learned the importance of empathy by meeting the family of a fallen soldier – one who died to protect the very freedoms and justice they studied all year long at Wayland Middle School. During their time at the school, the students are expected to understand the four "BERT" principles – Belonging, Empathy, Respect and Trust. Empathy, more abstract than the others, is considered the most difficult. For a teacher to create a concrete lesson for the students to experience empathy is challenging, but Richard Battaglia, an eighth-grade science teacher, decided that an ideal setting would be the annual Washington, D.C., trip. The field trip already underscores the freedom and justice component of their study of government. During their visit to Arlington National Cemetery, Battaglia took the class to the grave of Matthew Pucino, a Massachusetts soldier who was killed in Afghanistan last November.