2010 - Nathan McAlister

The Institute presented the 2010 National History Teacher of the Year Award to Nathan McAlister, a teacher at Royal Valley Middle School in Mayetta, Kansas. In addition to creating hands-on, primary-source-focused lessons for his seventh and eighth grade students, Mr. McAlister also sponsors Royal Valley Middle School’s history club, which meets on weekends, and serves as the advisor to the school-wide history fair. During his thirteen-year teaching career, Mr. McAlister has served on the Executive Board of the Kansas Council for History Education, developed lessons for the Kansas State Historical Society, and established many other history education initiatives connected to his classroom. In spring 2010, his seventh grade students researched local Underground Railroad history and petitioned representatives to support a bill—a bill they drafted in class—marking a portion of a nearby highway as an Underground Railroad trail. The Kansas state legislature passed the bill into law.