Not a teacher, but I went to my 10-year reunion. Back in high school, we had a kid who had Asperger's and was a little weird. He was, however, amazing at the yo-yo, having picked one up during middle school when we had that yo-yo trick assembly. After everyone else had stopped walking the dog in eighth grade, this guy was doing more and more elaborate tricks every day during lunch. He was bullied and teased, but he continued doing what he loved. So, at our 10-year reunion, people from every stride of high school popularity was there, including this guy. He was his same old self, but more confident. I asked him if he still yo-yos, and he bust out his custom-made titanium yo-yo that he said he made on a CNC lathe. He then starts to do tricks, and a large crowd gathers around. It was quite the show. He had gotten very good. When he finished, people clapped and cheered, and even the jockey astute from the back in the day fist-bumped him and told him how badass he was. The most amazing transformation was everyone else. Nobody teased him for being who he was anymore. Now, they admired him for being so passionate about something.