Social studies teacher, Jordan Boyd, was shocked and a little frightened to see members of the administration coming into her room on September 22nd. Boyd was soon informed, however, that she was not in trouble as she thought, but that she had received the Horizon Award.

“They came into my first hour AP classroom and I was shocked,” Boyd said of the experience. “I didn’t know what was happening, I thought that I was in trouble at first because all of these bigwigs start coming into my classroom. But it was a really welcome surprise.”

The Horizon award is an award that recognizes second year teachers for their outstanding teaching ability in their first year. Teachers are usually nominated by learning coaches (a person who supervises first year teachers) and administrators, but they can also be nominated by other teachers as well. Boyd is the fourth Free State teacher to be the recipient of the notable recognition.

Junior Ian Pultz-Earle was in the room when Boyd received the award along with a $250 check.

“I was actually late that day, so I was behind (the administrators) in the hallway,” Pultz-Earle said. “I saw people with balloons and a camera and then I was like, ‘I wonder where they’re going.’ Then I saw they were going to Mrs. Boyd’s room. So I walked in as all these people were in the classroom already and I was kind of confused at first and then I realized what was going on.”

Boyd did not receive this award without reason. Cathryn Monroe, a Civics teacher and the current building learning coach, nominated Boyd. Monroe, a recipient of the award herself, sees many notable qualities in Boyd’s teaching ability.

“I could just see there was something that stood out about her,” Monroe said.  “That you could just tell she was in the right spot. She just fit teaching, (and) teaching fit her.”

Monroe believes that a good teacher is someone who is self reflective and has a desire to connect with students.

“She was extremely reflective, extremely student focused,” Monroe said. “As I continued to build relationships with her and began to coach her, I began to learn from her myself. So as a veteran teacher of ten years she was teaching me and pushing me just as much as I was teaching and pushing her.”

Boyd also exhibits a passion for her subject, a quality noticed by her students.

“I just love history and I love people and I love it when other people love history,” Boyd said. “So I try to bring that to my classroom and I try to teach students as fairly as I can and realize they’re students with difficult lives too sometimes.”

Monroe is not the only one that believes in Boyd’s teaching abilities. Her students speak highly of her as well.

“She is always there, ready to help students whenever they need help,” junior Sabrea Platz said. “She always makes herself available for students when they have questions and she’s a really great resource as a teacher. She really goes the extra mile.”

Although Boyd is excited to have won she now feels the pressure to live up to her award.

“I think (awards like these) make us realize that recognition is out there. And that we will be seen for doing good hard work, and it incentivises us to work harder,” Boyd said.  “Now I do kind of find myself thinking, ‘well people expect me to be this superstar teacher so i better not let them down,’ and that’s a good thing.”

The next step for Boyd is to be considered among other notable teachers throughout the state. Boyd is just grateful to have been nominated, however.
“It made me feel really good to know that somebody was watching what I was doing because teaching is so thankless sometimes,” Boyd said. “It’s a really hard job, I got like six hours of sleep last night. To know that somebody is thankful for what I do feels really good.”