photo by: John Young

Margaret LaPiana, a second-grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School, 1045 Hilltop Dr., and two of her students react as she is surprised in her classroom with the Lawrence Horizon Award on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 27, 2016.

Margaret “Mimi” LaPiana’s “youthful exuberance” on the job is partly what earned her the Lawrence district’s Horizon Award, presented to the second-grade teacher during a ceremony Tuesday at Hillcrest Elementary School.

There was certainly plenty to be found in LaPiana’s classroom that afternoon, when superintendent Kyle Hayden surprised the teacher — and more than a dozen fittingly exuberant young students — with the Horizon Award and a $250 check from Truity Credit Union.

The annual honor is meant to recognize exemplary teachers in their second year of teaching.

“We’ve been hearing a lot of great things about you after your first year of teaching,” Hayden said to LaPiana before turning to her students.

“Would you agree that she’s a great teacher?” he asked. Their response? An enthusiastic and resounding “yes.”

In her first year at Hillcrest, LaPiana brought to the classroom a “youthful exuberance” and an innovative style, fellow Hillcrest teacher Ira Johnson wrote in his endorsement, echoing colleague Jennifer Wyatt’s assessment that LaPiana “makes learning fun.”

“Miss LaPiana began her career with an extremely diverse and large class, where everything was new to her. She welcomed the challenge and responsibility like a professional,” Johnson wrote, later adding, “Miss LaPiana goes above and beyond as an educator and will be a positive teaching force for a long time.”

LaPiana, who joined Hillcrest last year tasked with a boisterous class of 26, described her first year of teaching as a formative experience.

The job, she said, isn’t easy, but it’s “rewarding” all the same. She thanks her students for that.

“It was a busy, crazy time as a first-year teacher, but it was incredible,” LaPiana said after receiving her award. “And just coming in every day, having them be so positive and wanting to learn was just amazing.”

She and the district’s secondary-level honoree, Kelsey Stolt of West Middle School, will be nominated for the Kansas State Department of Education’s Kansas Horizon Award program.