Through several decades, Leslie Gardner-Longo always wanted to give her students a real-life example on the importance of speaking Spanish, or any other world language.

“I always told them, ‘If you double your language, you double the number of boyfriends or girlfriends you can have in your life.’ That was in addition to the number of employment positions they could get,” said Gardner-Longo, standing outside the door to what is now her former classroom space inside Southern Regional High…