Allison Cyr

Allison Cyr is currently an Instructional Coach at John F. Kennedy Elementary School in the Desert Sands Unified School District, Riverside County.

Ms. Cyr started teaching in 2011. She got into the teaching profession due to inspiration from her grandma and aunt. Her influential teacher, Mr. Lienhard, was an added bonus. When she was 20 years old, she learned that Mr. Lienhard was in critical condition and needed a kidney transplant to survive. At the age of 20, she gave her kidney to Mr. Leinhard.

In her application, Ms. Cyr described this decision: “I not only believe in bloodlines, but lifelines. My conviction that teachers are essential ‘life givers’ was literally tested in college when an impactful high school teacher needed a kidney. To deny life to a teacher so committed to helping students finish school wasn’t a choice for me. I believe that teachers have unbreakable ‘cords of influence.’ ”

When she was student teaching, Allison created the nonprofit, Twenty 4 Change, which is based on the idea that you can spend $20 or 20 minutes to change a life. The current “Book in Hand” program of Twenty4Change is helping students build their home libraries. Over 100 classrooms have been helped with over 4,000 books given to teachers and students in multiple states including California and Maine.