A Free State High School history teacher will be honored Friday in New York City as Kansas History Teacher of the Year.

Jason Pendleton will be recognized by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Preserve America, a White House program.

Pendleton will receive a $1,000 honorarium and a core archive of history books and materials donated to the Free State library in his name by the institute.

The honor, which began in 2004, is designed to promote and celebrate the teaching of American history across the U.S. It honors one exceptional K-12 teacher of American history from each state and U.S. territory.

Pendleton first learned of the honor in July. He has been a teacher for seven years, including in Free State’s social studies department. He also is head coach for the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams at Free State.