BVNW band teacher Adam Lundine received the Kansas Horizon Award today for his superior first year as an educator. Principal Amy Murphy, Blue Valley superintendent Tom Trigg and other BVNW administrators delivered Lundine the news of his award, which was given to 32 selected teachers in the state of Kansas.

“It was second hour today during symphonic band, and I saw [Murphy] peeking in through the window and came into the room, but then I saw the others and [Trigg] … and I knew something had to be up,” Lundine said. “The Kansas Education Commissioner called the room over speaker phone, so it was pretty cool for the kids and for me. I definitely was not expecting that.”

Nominated by Murphy early in the school year, which then was filtered through nominees through the district and then throughout the state. Lundine said he was notified of his nomination in November and was flattered, but never imagined he would be accepting the award two months later.

“I was so excited that [Murphy] nominated me,” Lundine said. “She just said that she was very happy for me to be at the school, and said they looked for teachers with enthusiasm and that showed experience beyond their years. So it was very, very kind for her to do that.”

Starting with a rewarding year, Lundine said he believes his passion and dedication to teaching will continue throughout his future teaching career.

“I love what I do in class, but I also love getting to be with them outside of school with activities on the weekends and band trips. That’s my favorite part of the job and I don’t think that’s going to go away.”