Doggone right they cheered. From the record of Tiffany Lachenmayr, fourth-grade teacher at Garner’s Timber Drive Elementary, her students probably have reason to cheer every day. But last week, Lachenmayr got a stupendous award from the Milken Family Foundation, which honors special teachers annually. (No more than 40 nationwide will be recognized this year.) The recognition comes with $25,000, which was presented at the school.

All one needs to know about Lachenmayr is that she calls her students “my heart.” An Illinois native, Lachenmayr is in her ninth year of teaching. The foundation accepts no nominations or applications, but presumably has people around the country who find winners – in every sense of the word.

Ideally, every great teacher in North Carolina would get an extra $25,000 this and every year, for they certainly earn it. Those in the profession are habitually overworked and underpaid. But still they keep going. Tiffany Lachenmayr is one who gives her all, every day. Bless her heart.