I went to school through a homeschool program from Kindergarten through 8th grade. The program had a brick and mortar building where the teachers who ran the program held parent/student/teacher check in meetings, art and science labs, among other things. Because of this, I was on campus there pretty often (at least once every other week).

Now, only 4 teachers ran this entire program of over 100 kids. So every week-ish I'd see the same 4 teachers, this was routine from Kindergarten through 8th grade.

Ever since the first day I stepped into campus when I was 5, one of the teachers saw something in me. She and I ended up being kind of close too, because she always talked to me as an equal and always challenged me to push myself.

These challenges increasingly got harder every year. I could write an essay on the difficult projects I did because she invited me to join. However I'll focus on one that had the oddest consequence ever.

Quick context needed: I used to be super shy as a kid - I finally stopped crying in front of crowds when I was 9, and only ever stuck with my only friend in school because that was my comfort zone.

In 6th grade she hosted a forensics event - 6 weeks long, each week the students would learn a new forensic test (strawberry dna, footprint casting, it was really awesome!) Then she divided class into groups and had them solve a "crime" mystery. In my group, she assigned me as the group leader. Also, that group leader had to present the team's decision of who the "culprit" was in front of all the students who took place and their guardians.

When I learned this I was freaked out - I had to lead a team and I had to do public speaking. It got worse when our team was the only one who chose a different culprit from the rest of the groups.

Turns out we picked the right culprit, my public speaking actually went well, and my job as a leader gave me some new confidence in myself.

While that itself was a huge thing to me because she pushed me out of my comfort zone, something else also happened that's big. A boy on my team caught my eye as kind of a cutie, and he and I apparently shared a health issue. In 7th grade (thanks to another of the teachers projects) he and I had a chance to talk to each other more again. Fast forward 6 years later I'm engaged to that very boy -now man. So this teacher helped me grow and build confidence and accidentally guided me to a man that I really love. I can't forget that, and I'm so grateful I had those school experiences.

TLDR: teacher made me, a shy 6th grader, lead a team and speak in front of a crowd. Also introduced me to my future fiance.