During my junior year I took a 400 level course in Kinesiology that highlighted "health prescription". This was a class of about 100 students and there were multiple subsections of the class for lab sessions each week. On the first day of class our enthusiastic instructor jumped on the table in front of us and told us how excited she was to have us all in class. This seems over the top BUT actually her attitude was infectious. She spent the first day of class going through each student and learning their name, what they wanted to do when they graduated and a hobby of theirs outside of school. Immediately she made you feel important, as an individual you mattered to her in her class. She took the time and made the effort to learn everyone's name and always called on you by name (even if that meant she made a lot of mistakes early in the semester). I found myself excited to attend her class each week. I was never afraid to ask question and I especially didn't feel like just a number at a large university. On the last day of class she wished everyone well, again individually, and told each of us something she admired about us that she learned about us over the course of the semester. It was impressive in a class so large she connected with every student and made them feel important and that they were capable of succeeding in her class.

On top of that she was a fantastic teacher on top of that! I found her class to be one of the best I took during my undergraduate education and honestly I don't use the material I learned in there day to day BUT I remember everything and the application of those skills. So if I need it, it's in my toolbox.