Coming of age

“Was there a teacher who lit a path you ended up walking down?”

Tips for asking

The class, the conversation, the comment at the bottom of an essay.

Listen for

What if you'd had a different teacher that year?

More from Coming of age

“What was the first thing you did, as a teenager, that your parents would have disapproved of if they'd known?”

“Tell me about your first real friendship — the one outside the family.”

“Who did you have your first big crush on?”