LONGWOOD, Fla. -- A Central Florida teacher has opened a life-coaching center for teens after a student carrying a gun entered her classroom before being fatally shot by a SWAT team.

Frances Boyd, who taught a special-needs class at Milwee Middle School in Longwood, is the co-founder of the Adolescence Life Coaching Center, which opened earlier this year.

She decided to change careers after Chris Penley, a 15-year-old student, came into her classroom in 2006 and pointed a gun in a student's face.

"He held the gun very close to one of my student's face. Nobody breathed. Nobody took a breath during that time," Boyd said. "I don't know what is worse: that 90 seconds he was with us or the 20 minutes when we didn't know if he was coming back in."

Boyd said she ordered her students onto the floor and made a phone call.

"I grabbed my cell phone. Unconciously, I don't know why, I called my sister and said there has just been a boy in my classroom with a gun. I don't know what is going to happen. Tell my children that I love them very much," Boyd said.

Penley left the room and was cornered in a campus bathroom by the Seminole County sheriff's SWAT team. Penley pointed the gun, which turned out to be a pellet gun that had been painted black to make it look real, at himself before pointing it at a deputy, who shot him. Penley died two days later.

Boyd said she knew almost immediately that her life and career would be changed forever.

"The moment he exited my classroom is the moment I said this is what i'm going to use my PhD for. I'm going to listen to kids full time. And that is why this center opened," said Boyd, who called the facility a refuge for teens who need to talk but find no one listening.

"It was one of those things that I needed to vent and let all my feelings out, and I needed someone to talk to other than my parents," an unidentified student said.

Boyd said she spent $20,000 of her own money and does not make a profit off the center. She said it has given her something more than money can buy: a sense of purpose.

"She is more like a friend. She really cares about the kids. She really shows them that she cares," parent Mary Labrada said.

"It's been a Godsend. She has a whole different approach -- an innovative approach -- that she uses," parent Mindy Rhoades said.

Investigators have determined that Penley was depressed and suicidal at the time of the shooting.

"Chris' death has to teach us something. It has to. It has to wake us up. And I decided that I have to be part of the difference that I need to see in my community," Boyd said.

Penley's family was at the dedication of the center earlier this year. The Penleys have filed a federal lawsuit against the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, claiming the sheriff and SWAT team member violated the civil rights of their son. The deputy involved in the shooting was cleared of any wrongdoing.