Horizon Academy homecoming

Assistant Principal Rebekah Cook poses for a photo at Horizon Academy At Marion Oaks in Marion Oaks on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.

Being chosen as Marion County’s 2024 Assistant Principal of the Year was a full-circle moment for Rebekah Cook. 

“I was able to come over to Horizon and bring a fresh set of experiences here and come back to where it all started for me,” said Cook, now an assistant principal at Horizon Academy at Marion Oaks. 

Cook started in Marion County Public Schools (MCPS) teaching at Horizon Academy when its doors first opened in 2009. After filling various other educational roles in the district, she returned to Horizon this year. 

On Nov. 14, administrators, superintendents, and supporters surprised Cook with flowers and a trophy to recognize her accomplishments.

District spokesperson Kevin Christian said candidates for the award are initially peer-nominated. The nominee can respond to an essay prompt if they choose to accept, and nominees are then evaluated by a school supervisor on a leadership characteristic rubric. 

A district committee then looks for the person with the highest combined leadership and essay scores. Cook earned a leadership score of 27 and an essay score of 38 for a total of 65. 

Part of Cook’s essay highlighted her pride at the resurgence of Horizon. “We moved our school from being an underdog to earning a school grade of an “A” in the 2011-2012 school year,” she wrote. 

When receiving the award, Cook said she felt humble and at a loss for words. 

“When I am working with people who I look up to, I think to myself quite often that I’m not at their caliber,’ she said. “So, when I got nominated, I was very honored. And then to be selected for it, I was in shock.”

Cook said she is grateful for the collaboration she has had with other assistant principals and the leadership skills and knowledge she has drawn from her peers.

“I love my team that I work with,’’ she said, “and I think my team really helps me take my ideas and put them into fruition.” 

Cook now advances to the state-level competition to represent MCPS. She said she is nervous but honored to do so.

‘Education was in my heart’

Cook said she was recently asked what made her get into the teaching profession. 

She has a sister, four years older, who played school with her when they were younger. She would teach Cook math, astronomy, spelling, and other subjects on top of the schoolwork Cook already had. “I felt like she was my teacher,” Cook said. 

Later in high school, Cook said she built relationships with her English and algebra teachers and went on family trips that she realized were always educational. 

“I knew education was in my heart, but I didn’t think I wanted to be a teacher,” she said. 

Cook went on to get a bachelor’s degree in business administration  from Saint Leo University and started off working as an office manager for a local business. But through tutoring friends on the side, she realized she enjoyed helping people learn and said, “Education was for me.” 

She began as a seventh- and eighth-grade math teacher at Horizon Academy for four years and then was an MCPS Primary and Secondary Education math coach, testing facilitator, program specialist for math in the district office, and Cambridge coordinator where she helped build the program at Belleview Middle School. 

Through the coordinating position, Cook said she taught students, “You have more avenues than just going straight to school. You have avenues of going to a different program to better your craft and find your passion.” 

Dion Gary, the principal of Belleview Middle, requested Cook become assistant principal of discipline. Cook moved to also serve as assistant principal at Lake Weir Middle School, Liberty Middle School, and now Horizon as assistant principal of curriculum assisting Principal Melissa Conner. 

“I have a heart for the community here out in Marion Oaks,” Cook said. 

She said her drive to Horizon is 45 minutes, but the relationships she has built with students and families through the years are beneficial to her. She has had interactions with past students she taught there 14 years ago. 

“Relationship is the first thing,” Cook said. “You have to have relationships with the students, teachers, leadership team, administrators, and so building that and knowing that we are all here for the same goal which is learning is number one.” 

Support from family and educators

Cook’s strong support group includes her family, most of whom live locally, and the friends she has made in education along the way. She said her two nieces are her life and she has even tutored them for years through elementary, middle, and high school. 

“Just knowing when you have that bad day, or you want to go out and celebrate something that happens, you can reach out to them and they are there to lend an ear or to be your cheerleader,” Cook said. 

She text messaged her family after being awarded, and her dad posted recognition for her on Facebook and texted, “This is a call for celebration.” They plan to celebrate her achievement on Thanksgiving together. 

She has other family members who are educators and said, “Our whole family understands the blood, sweat, and tears that go into being an educator.”