Allison Cyr

Allison Cyr, who is a third-grade, multiple-subject teacher at Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School in the Desert Sands Unified School District, Riverside County.

Ms. Cyr has nine years of teaching experience. 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. She continues this program annually with her third-grade students so they learn how to be “doers” as well as lifelong learners.