In the age of virtual meetings because of the coronavirus crisis, four Riverside County teachers got a surprise — they are a 2021 Riverside County Teacher of the Year.
During online video conferences, each learned the news Wednesday, June 3, from Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Judy White. Usually, she’d suddenly burst into each teacher’s classroom with the announcement, but to the winners, hearing of the honors online was just as sweet.
“I’m stunned and so excited,” Perris teacher Anne-Marie “Annie” Bravo said as she got word of the award, a county schools news release states. “Thank you to the district for putting up with all my crazy ideas.”
The quartet will represent the county in the 2021 California Teacher of the Year contest. At least one teacher from the county has been chosen as a state winner for six of the past seven years, the Riverside County Office of Education news release states.
That includes Brenda Chavez-Barreras, a Good Hope Elementary School teacher in the Perris Elementary SchoolDistrict who was named a state teacher of the year for 2020.
Anne-Marie “Annie” Bravo, a teacher at Railway School of Math, Science, and Technology in the Perris Elementary School District, is one of four Riverside County 2021 Teachers of the Year. (Photo courtesy of Anne-Marie “Annie” Bravo)
Keisa Brown, a teacher at University Heights Middle School in Riverside, is one of four 2021 Riverside County Teachers of the Year. (Photo courtesy of Keisa Brown)
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Allison Cyr, a teacher at Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School in the Desert Sands Unified School District, is one of four 2021 Riverside County Teachers of the Year. (Photo courtesy of Allison Cyr)
Krysten Gonda, a teacher at Desert Mirage High School in the Coachella Valley Unified School District, is one of four 2021 Riverside County Teachers of the Year. (Photo courtesy of Krysten Gonda)
County winners are selected from nearly 20,000 educators in the county and go through an application process that includes reviews by committees, interviews and classroom visits.
Here’s a look at this year’s winners:
Name: Anne-Marie “Annie” Bravo
School: Railway School of Math, Science, and Technology
District: Perris Elementary School District
Residence: Menifee
Occupation: Third-grade teacher
Years in education: 17
Notable: Bravo believes her classroom belongs to students, parents and the community, the release states. She writes songs about math and English that mimic popular tunes. Bravo, who raised more than $28,000 for field trips and activities, leads a GATE Academy that includes a math escape room, tower-building challenges, the making of slime and working with clay.
Quote from application: “A teacher never stops growing and needs to constantly be making their fires glow brighter, along with the students, to keep up with the rapidly changing times.”
Name: Keisa Brown
School: University Heights Middle School
District: Riverside Unified School District
Residence: Moreno Valley
Occupation: 7th/8th grade science and Advancement Via Individual Determination teacher
Years in education: 20
Notable: Brown was the first in her family to go to college and raised her 9-year-old sister when her mother died, the release states. In the AVID program, she encourages students to go to college and has spread that mindset across campus. Brown created programs to teach students about the dangers of prescription drugs and underage drinking.
Quote from application: “Although teaching is hard work, it is truly heart work. Regardless of a student background, every child needs to be heard.”
Name: Allison Cyr
School: Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School
District: Desert Sands Unified School District
Residence: Palm Desert
Occupation: Third-grade teacher
Years in education: Nine
Notable: As a child, Cyr lined up stuffed animals and made worksheets for them. Her class writes get-well cards and sends packages to people across the nation, such as cancer patients, police officers and veterans. She donated a kidney to an Indio High School teacher to save his life and he is now a colleague, the release states.
Quote from application: “The beauty of being a teacher is that there is no such thing as an ideal day. As a class, our goal is to always be better than the day before.”
Name: Krysten Gonda
School: Desert Mirage High School
District: Coachella Valley Unified School District
Residence: Palm Desert
Occupation: 9th and 12th grade, English/Language Arts and AVID
Years in education: 12
Notable: She set up tents and hiking backpacks to create a learning station to better understand characters and situations from a book. Gonda supports risk-taking so that, if students fail, they feel confident and informed for future choices. She is gender support coordinator and advisor for an LGBTQ+ club.
Quote from application: “I make a conscious choice in my classroom to put relationships above all. I may not be a therapist, but I’m qualified to care.”