[octokatt]

Mr. Andrews, high school computer science. I got bullied terribly in his class from other students[1], and he made sure I still got to take his classes.

He let me hide in his classroom and work on programming projects during mandatory pep rallies.

He taught me programming fundamentals like object-oriented programming and functional programming, database structure, and bug hunting I still use twenty years later.

He encouraged me and told me good classes he taught to take at the same time so I could work on skills in the right order, and when I had two of his classes at once he let me do work from the harder class during the easier class.

He wrote me a recommendation letter that showed he knew me, and I still have it framed in my office.

[1] I was the only girl, a year or two behind the majority of the students, and a sarcastic little thing. Kudos to him to telling me being aggressive and female at the same time was ok, and showing me how to do so in a better manner.