In the last several years of writing this column, I’ve mentioned my High School English teacher several times. Every time it was to talk about how much her efforts as a teacher meant to me as a student. This is particularly the case since I was a very poor student. I didn’t really try at all, but she put a effort into engaging and encouraging me. It would have been much easier to simply write me off, but her efforts made a difference in my life. A couple years ago, when I talked about this teacher, a good friend of mine approached me and encouraged me to reach out to that particular teacher to...