For a second straight year, a Valley Center teacher with Great Bend ties has been awarded the prestigious Kansas Horizon Award, which acknowledges excellence in first-year teachers. School districts can nominate one teacher, and only 32 teachers are selected across the state each year for the Horizon Award.
Last year, GBHS alumnus Aaron Miller was one of 16 secondary education teachers in Kansas to win the award. On Jan. 12, Morgan Kaiser was announced as a 2024 honoree for her work at Valley Center High School.
The Horizon Award program was developed by the Kansas State Department of Education to honor and recognize exemplary first-year teachers who perform in a way that distinguishes them as outstanding. The program is a regional competition with four regions corresponding to the state’s U.S. Congressional districts. Four elementary and four secondary classroom teachers may be selected for the award from each region, for a possible total of 32 teachers in Kansas.
Jami Dryden, an elementary teacher for USD 495 Fort Larned, was also a 2024 Horizon Award recipient.