I have two answers to this question!

During my senior year of high school, my AP psychology teacher, Mr. Vanderburg was my favorite teacher not just of that year, but in all of high school and middle school. He not only made his classes extremely interesting and fun, but he was one of the only teachers who helped bump up my grade to passing when I was going through a really rough time. He would also throw these locked-in parties every year in which kids could spend the night at the school and binge watch movies. That year, it was a Star Wars marathon which was sick. He would also have pop-tarts in his classroom for those of us who did not eat breakfast or lunch, so he was basically a dad to a bunch of us.

In church I also have a special person who was influential to me and that is the head pastor’s daughter, Miss Karina. She is the wife of one of the associate pastors who used to be my Sunday school teacher back in college. She was with me during my first mission trip; she was with me during some of the best and more difficult points in my life. She is truly like a church mom to me since I have had some truly difficult conversations with her, knowing she was listening with her full heart. Such a wise and Godly example for me when I needed help with spiritual matters. She was also influential with me getting involved with the tiny tots, since she is the head of the children’s ministry.