His drama teacher at the time, Linda Napoletano, who was a mentor for Rader and is now retired, remembers "it went well for Dustin because he handled it so well. … Dustin had a lot of people who recognized how wonderful he is. They were friends of the true person and it kind of didn't matter what name that person wore or what clothes this person wore. It's just this person they loved and that was going to stay the same."