photo by: Matt Resnick/Journal-World

Taylor Bussinger, of Lawrence, is pictured Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. He has been named Kansas' 2024 Teacher of the Year.

During his teenage years at Lawrence High School, Taylor Bussinger was far from what anyone might consider “a model student.” But now, 15 years after he graduated from LHS, he is not only a teacher, but is, by some lights, the best teacher in the state.

Bussinger, a Lawrence resident and University of Kansas graduate who was recently named the 2024 Kansas Teacher of the Year, is in his 10th year teaching social studies at Prairie Trail Middle School in Olathe.

“I was in shock and thought I was dealing with imposter syndrome,” he said of winning the award. “Just looking around and seeing so many talented teachers.”

Bussinger’s interest in teaching emerged in high school when he met Diane Ash, a prevention specialist at LHS. A prevention specialist, as the name implies, works with students to prevent impediments to academic success. Bussinger — not “someone who got good grades at all” — said that Ash, now retired, proved to be exactly the mentor that he needed. She sparked his enthusiasm for the classroom by getting him involved in peer education, which included such activities as presentations to elementary school classrooms on topics like bullying and tobacco use.

“That’s really where I became excited about teaching, was her inviting me into that circle,” Bussinger said, “and I found that I liked doing that.”

Furthering his interest in the field were people he met along the way, like KU education professor Joe O’Brien, whom Bussinger cited as influential in his career path.

People like Ash and O’Brien did what good teachers, in Bussinger’s mind, do: “Inspire curiosity” while also “allowing students to have a voice.”

A self-described “Constitution and Reconstruction-era nerd,” Bussinger said that what he’s doing in his history classes “is being very mindful of not projecting my own opinions on students and allowing kids to share theirs.”

“In a lot of ways, I don’t see myself as teaching history, but more of facilitating a conversation and giving students a voice in that,” he said, adding that his favorite classroom activities include hands-on exercises like mock trials and debates.

The teaching profession has helped him come into his own in a way that allows him to exude “passion, energy and excitement” in the classroom and to realize that education “isn’t something that you can truly ever finish.”

“As a teacher, the best thing you can bring to the classroom is your authentic self,” he said, “and allow kids to feed off of that.”

photo by: Contributed

Lawrence resident Taylor Bussinger delivers a speech after being named Kansas’ 2024 Teacher of the Year on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, at the awards banquet in Wichita.

The Teacher of the Year process is intensive, Bussinger said. It includes nominations by colleagues, multiple essays, video recordings, speeches and other materials — a process that he described as a “whirlwind,” culminating in the recently held awards ceremony in Wichita.

As part of his Teacher of the Year obligations, Bussinger will lead a small group of other award finalists who will travel around the state giving presentations to school districts, colleges and various groups that advocate for teachers and students. That presentation is still being developed, but it’s themed around “the concept of finding joy in the classroom,” Bussinger said.

The obligations will temporarily pull Bussinger away from his Olathe students.

“I won’t be in the classroom much next semester,” he said. “It’s kind of interesting how that works.”

He said he’s looking forward to collaborating with the group because it will give him the opportunity to hear perspectives from teachers in different parts of the state. He also plans to meet with Missouri’s Teacher of the Year.

“One of the things about the teaching profession is that we very rarely get the opportunity to see what others do because we’re always in our classrooms,” he said.

Bussinger, the father of two young children, said that one of his favorite aspects of teaching was watching his students grow and getting updates from them after they’ve left his classroom. He has run into many former students attending KU who are excited to tell him what they’re studying, and he also, to his delight, receives emails from former pupils describing the “really cool things they’re doing.”

The Kansas Teacher of the Year program is run by the Kansas State Department of Education.