Remember the teachers who most shaped your life--and your future?

Maybe they gave you a new perspective on a challenging subject.

Maybe they presented class material in a way that was so much fun, you never realized how much you were learning.

Maybe they saw your potential, long before you did.

And most of all--no "maybe" about it!--they used their talents and creativity to inspire their students and help them grow, while related what they were teaching to those students and their lives.

Over Coffee® has had the pleasure of featuring innumerable teachers in these categories.

While doing justice to all of them is impossible, here are four exceptional educators whom we'd like to spotlight, as we get into Summer, 2025.

Math with meaning

National Board Certified math teacher Krystal Jones relates her subject--mathematics--to solving social problems.

"Math is in everything," Krystal explains, as she discusses the ways she's involved students in her San Jose classroom in math-based projects related to the issues they're seeing around them.

Geometry, proportions and probabilities take on new life for her students as Krystal, who has served as Engineering Education Leader in San Jose's Tech Interactive Museum, guides them through global, socially-conscious project-based experiences.

"I'm the mad scientist," says Mechatronics Engineering Instructor Jim Burnham, of his work at at Silicon Valley Career Technical Education High School.

And his goal, as he shares his expertise from his background as a professional engineer, is to show his students the fun and creative aspects of engineering.

Accordingly, Jim, who won Santa Clara County School District's "Teacher of the Year" Award in 2019, and in 2023, gets his students busy collaborating as they explore construction of devices such as Rube Goldberg machines, haunted-house props and other projects that involve "hacking the world" with Arduinos and Raspberry Pi devices. He also shares his curricula on his website, using his moniker, "STEAM Clown".

And. oh, yes--there may be a few fire-breathing robots along the way.

Meanwhile, Africa VR Campus and Center Founder/CEO Paul Simon Waiyaki and Africa VR Campus and Center Associate Director/XR Girls Africa Founder Diana Njeri are using virtual reality to change the world through education.

Since 2016, their Kenya-based nonprofit has used VR headsets to conduct free weekly classes for teenage girls, teaching them both technical and entrepreneurial skills.

And they're doing so against a background of limited resources and dangerous circumstances for young women.

Diana, who was recently honored with XR Women's Real World Impact Award for her work in the metaverse, explains that among girls from poor families, teenage pregnancies, early marriages and prostitution are rampant. Opportunities to learn technology and skills for a future job market are almost nonexistent.

"Some of these schools don't have roofs!" exclaims Waiyaki, who explains that, during his days as a classroom teacher, the "technology" he was given for teaching consisted of--a television set. But VR became a game-changer for him, Diana and the youth they're serving, after his first immersive experience.

As Africa VR Campus and Center's teaching program has grown and flourished, not only have XR Girls Africa won an award from Girls' STEAM Institute, but a new agricultural project--with an upcoming digital component--has empowered them in unprecedented ways.

And that's just today. We can't wait to tell you more about what they'll do in 2026!