Salem Reporter is publishing profiles about one graduating senior from each Salem-Keizer School District high school for its Class of 2026 series. The seniors were selected by their teachers, coaches and advisors for exceptional leadership and perseverance. See the other profiles here.  Allyssa Christensen went into her first leadership class as a freshman with a goal to help more than just her peers at McNary High School. Christensen was one of two people chosen for the class while still in eighth grade at Claggett Creek Middle School.  As part of the class, Christensen spent her four years at McNary organizing the twice-annual blood drives, connecting students in need with meals and gifts during the holidays through a decades-long program and arranging the school’s event bringing veterans to McNary classes. “I think it’s really nice reaching out to people in the community and seeing the impact,” she said.  In her freshman leadership class, Christensen chose the service-oriented track hoping to positively impact the broader Keizer community and strengthen her resume for college. Now a graduating senior and the class’s community service director, she has cultivated a passion for service by assisting and leading the class’s different efforts to support students and community members. Christensen finds joy in seeing the benefits her work can have on others. One moment from her high school service work was learning the names of people who received blood from a blood drive she helped orchestrate.  Marcus Luther, an English teacher at McNary, said Christensen’s peers recognized her for empathy and generosity.  Luther taught Christensen during her sophomore and junior years, which included an Advanced Placement literature class.  In his class, students use a survey to nominate peers who they believe demonstrate values like empathy and generosity. Each value makes up one leg of an octopus displayed on the wall of Luther’s classroom. After being nominated for a value by their classmates, students sign their name on the corresponding octopus leg. Both sophomore year and junior year, Christensen signed every leg – something Luther said is rare.  “It says a lot that enough of your peers saw those different values in you across the year,” Luther said to her. “I’ve had no students, ever, multiple years, do that.”  One of Christensen’s biggest accomplishments at McNary was organizing this year’s Living History Day. The annual event is held around Veterans Day, and brings veterans into classrooms to discuss their experiences with students.   Christensen handled reaching out to veterans, navigating schedule conflicts and accounting for class time teachers would lose due to the event. She noticed the year before that the contact list of veterans had not been updated since 2018. Some had died since then, and families were still contacted for the event each year.  With help from her teacher, Christensen found new people to reach out to by calling local assisted living homes. The effort led to several new veteran participants this year, she said.  “I think it was a big accomplishment for me to meet all of the things that maybe were changed this year, or obstacles from this year that were different than last year,” she said.  Christensen considers her ability to work with a range of people, from her peers to veterans, a strength that aided her in leading this event – a self-assessment Luther agreed with. In an advisory class he taught that pairs freshmen with upperclassmen for peer support and guidance, Luther said he never worried about who to pair Christensen with. “Some students you have to be very strategic about where you sit,” he said. “Allyssa is one of those (I) can put with anyone and it’s going to make that group better, very clearly.”  Outside of her leadership, Christensen was in her school’s National Honor Society, kept good grades in advanced classes and worked with disabled peers through the school’s Unified program, which brings students with and without disabilities together. She also serves as a “hype lead” at Dutch Bros, where she arranges local volunteering for her and her coworkers.  She balanced her numerous activities through intentional choices, prioritizing those that were meaningful to her, she said.  Luther believes Christensen stands apart from other high-achieving students because of how she balances academics and activities without losing her passion for them.  “We’re working with juniors to figure (prioritization skills) out before they leave, and you’ve had that from a young age, which is pretty cool,” Luther said to her.  This fall, Christensen plans to attend the University of Oregon and work towards a job teaching elementary school students. Contact reporter Krista Kroiss at [email protected]. News tip? Email [email protected]. LOCAL NEWS DELIVERED TO YOU: Subscribe to Salem Reporter and get all the fact-based Salem news that matters to you. 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