By Matt Hoover
USD 475 Communications Coordinator
JUNCTION CITY, Kan. - Geary USD 475 has announced that Westwood Elementary kindergarten teacher Avery Rush and Junction City High School drama teacher BrookeLynn Mackin have been named the district’s nominees for the Kansas Horizon Award Program.
Rush was named the USD 475 Elementary Kansas Horizon Award nominee, while Mackin claimed the Secondary Kansas Horizon Award nomination. By being named USD 475’s Kansas Horizon Award winners, Rush and Mackin both received a $1,000 check on Monday from Central National Bank of Junction City. The duo will also be recognized at an upcoming Board of Education meeting.
The Kansas Horizon Award Program, sponsored by the Kansas State Department of Education, identifies, and recognizes representatives of excellent teaching in classrooms across the state. The mission of the program is to recognize exemplary first-year teachers who perform in a way that distinguishes them as outstanding.
Rush, who is now in her second year of teaching at Westwood and graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and Landscape Design, was raised in Harveyville, Kansas. She began working in USD 475 as an instructional assistant in September of 2022 before becoming a long-term substitute at Westwood from 2023 to 2024. She was hired full-time as a kindergarten teacher in January of 2024. Fast forward to 2025 and Rush can now be found encouraging her kindergarten students to do their very best and to enjoy every single day by creating a fun and exciting environment for her students to learn in.
“It is such a huge honor to be named the district’s elementary recipient for the Kansas Horizon Award because I absolutely love teaching,” said Rush. “To be honored by USD 475 as a teacher who is making a difference and doing positive things in her classroom, I can’t say enough how much of an honor this is."
Mackin, who is also in her second year in the district and is originally from Burleson, Texas, has helped carry on a long tradition of Junction City High School having one of the best drama and performing arts departments in the entire state. Mackin, who completed her practicum and student taught at JCHS while finishing up her degree at Kansas State University, will help lead two play performances as a full-time teacher by the end of 2025, which include the Importance of Being Earnest and The Man Who Came to Dinner, which will take place later this semester.
“It means a lot that I was named the Kansas Horizon Award secondary nominee for USD 475 especially since we are so close to a military base,” said Mackin. “Our catchphrase is to educate locally and effect globally, and I feel like we do just that with how many diverse students we have coming in and out. I tend to be pretty hard on myself, so it’s really nice to know that I am making a difference in our students lives.”
Kansas Horizon Award Program winners will be recognized at a special luncheon during the 2026 Kansas Exemplary Educators Network (KEEN) Conference, which is scheduled for Feb. 19-20, 2026.