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MADISON HEIGHTS — The morning of March 17 was an emotional rollercoaster for Rachel Harwell. The science teacher at John Page Middle School in Madison Heights was about to begin her second class that day when she received a call from her son’s elementary school, telling her he was absent.
“I was puzzled by this, because I knew his dad had taken him to school, so I was frantically trying to figure out where my son was,” Harwell said. “I started calling my husband, but he wasn’t answering the phone. So, of course my brain went where it does.”
For the moment, she buried any uneasy thoughts. Then, visitors started filing into her class, including officials from the Lamphere school district and Oakland Intermediate Schools — followed by her husband and son.
“They were the last ones to walk in, so it was a shock but a relief,” Harwell said.
That relief quickly turned to joy as Harwell learned the reason for the visit: She had been named the 2026 Oakland County Middle School Teacher of the Year.
Her husband had managed to keep it a secret from her after being tipped off a week earlier.
“But he hadn’t told our son until after I went to work. It was the right call, because my son would’ve told me,” Harwell laughed. “I’m a master compartmentalizer. My classroom is like a sacred space, so if visitors come here, I usually make eye contact but keep the train going because middle schoolers are easily distracted and hard to get back on track. But I was in shock after this.”
The prestigious award comes in Harwell’s fifth year with the Lamphere district, but her teaching career goes back to 2007 when she started in Charlotte, N.C. She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, and she has always taught middle school.
“It’s fantastic,” Harwell said of working with sixth, seventh and eighth graders. “They’re really waking up to who they’re going to be, and what they want in life, and realizing they can have a direct impact on their lives. Middle school is a hard place to be, but the adolescent mind is so fascinating. In eighth grade, they believe they have a lot of stuff figured out, but there’s still this element of, ‘Please help and protect me.’ They’re little rascals, living with their toe on the line: ‘Can I do this? Do I need permission to do that?’ But I love it.”
Harwell said she still remembers how she was when she was her students’ age, and that helps her to empathize with them.
“If my middle school teachers in Waterford knew I’d become a teacher, they’d be shocked. When I was a kid, I could be a bit of a stinker — not all sunshine and rainbows — but I needed an adult to see me for who I was,” Harwell said. “So, I try to be that now for my kids.”
She acknowledged the acute pressure facing students today, from self-esteem issues caused by carefully curated depictions of other people’s lives online, to cyberbullying, and even anxiety about job security and a world imperiled by climate change.
Regarding the environment, Harwell has worked to empower her kids to feel like they can make a difference. She started the Ecology Club at Page, and previously secured grant funding from the Madison Heights Environmental Citizens Committee for a native garden that her students then created in one of the school’s courtyards.
The garden continues to serve as a form of hands-on learning about the advantages of native plants that have adapted to the region and are better at supporting pollinator species since they don’t require pesticides or herbicides. The garden even received “Certified Wildlife Habitat” status from the National Wildlife Federation. Harwell recently applied for more grant funding through the ECC to create a second garden at the school.
“The goal is to not just increase the biodiversity of our campus by bringing in all the birds and insects but also to show the kids what’s possible, and for them to be a part of that change,” Harwell said. “Rather than all this gross ugly lawn we have to keep mowing and watering, we can actually benefit from what we put there.”
She will also teach a course next year called Michigan Ecology — a new elective that she pitched to the Lamphere Board of Education and got approved. She hopes that her students will realize their small actions can add up to have an exponential effect that helps the planet.
Lamphere Superintendent Dale Steen praised Harwell’s work.
“We are so proud of Rachel being chosen as Oakland County (Middle School) Teacher of the Year,” Steen said. “The impact that she has on the students and families at Page Middle School can be seen every day in her classroom.”
Adam Kedzior, a science teacher at Page who leads the robotics program at Lamphere High School, recounted the reasons he nominated Harwell for the award. He described her as consistent and fair, with clear expectations. Harwell also makes learning fun.
“She teaches with pure joy,” Kedzior said via email. “Rachel brings remarkable energy and constant laughter into her classroom, creating an environment where students feel engaged, comfortable and excited to learn.”
He noted one of her classroom incentives is playing games where the winner gets to assign silly names to objects in the classroom. Harwell said it’s been great for engagement.
“The names still have to be appropriate for school,” she said. “Like we have a poster named ‘Sweaty Pits,’ which is gross but so funny. I’ve had students name a wall ‘Child Support.’ I’ve had chairs named after students, tables named after them — but only with their permission. So, if a student wants to name the trash can after their best friend, we get their permission first.
“It’s a simple thing, but it gives them a sense of ownership, because they now own a piece of real estate in my classroom,” Harwell said. “I’ve had the quietest kids who won’t say ‘boo’ or raise their hand, who don’t want to be seen, but even they’re eager to name something, like a ceiling tile. It makes my classroom feel like a safe space, where my kids are seen and respected, which is how I want them to feel.”
She said she’s mindful of the fact her students come from all walks of life. She doesn’t know the full circumstances of each child’s life, so she tries to be patient.
“Every day starts with a clean slate, and I tell them that,” Harwell said. “If a kid got on my nerves one day and I had to call a parent, the next day they start brand-new in my class. I also treat them with respect, and I try not to take myself too seriously. I’m Hot Mess Express, and I know it — I misspell things, lose my coffee several times a day — so I don’t project myself to them as some perfect person, because I’m not. Middle school is hard for me, too, but I tell them we will all get through this.”
Harwell also advises aspiring teachers to treat themselves with kindness.
“It’s a hard lesson to learn, because when you start as a teacher you want to save every single child in front of you, and a new teacher will burn themselves out trying. But it’s important to give yourself grace as an educator and set limits: Don’t take work home with you, especially if you have family, and some emails can wait,” Hartwell said. “The difference between my first year of teaching and my 20th year is giving myself that grace and letting my kids see that.”
