<p>Two teachers really stick out in my mind- both from high school. </p>
<p>I had one that got me over my fear of public speaking. He is a brilliant teacher who just had a way of making things fun. He also has cerebral palsy and adult-onset stills disease. Yet every single day, he came in beaming. He got everyone- even my ex who HATED school and HATED showing up (he was dead last in our class rank)- to engage in the classroom. I have no idea how he did it, but he did. I still talk to him on facebook all the time. He started the Pay It Forward program at our school and I still know people from my class who do it. They’ll do a favor for someone and just tell them to pay it forward. </p>
<p>My other was a Spanish teacher that I was with for two years. She was the first one to notice what I was going through in high school with depression, eating issues, etc. She was the only one who noticed my extreme weight loss and negative change in attitude. She basically cornered me one day and made me tell her what was going on. I broke down and told her and she convinced me to get treatment. I don’t know what would have happened to me if she hadn’t convinced me to get treatment. I was down to 120 lb (at 6’) and still dropping weight. </p>
<p>I have many, many more. I think I was fortunate to have awesome teachers in high school. I really can’t think of any from my Catholic school though that I remember trying to help me.</p>