Madison Heights Teacher Wins Oakland County Top Award

Rachel Harwell thought her son was missing. The John Page Middle School science teacher frantically tried reaching her husband on March 17 when her son's elementary school reported him absent, but no one answered her calls.

Then her husband walked into her classroom with their son, followed by district officials bearing surprising news. Harwell had just been named Oakland County's 2026 Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Her husband had kept the secret for a week after being tipped off. "It was the right call, because my son would've told me," Harwell laughed.

The award recognizes Harwell's unique approach to one of her students' biggest concerns: climate change. Rather than letting anxiety paralyze her sixth through eighth graders, she channels their worry into action through the Ecology Club she founded at the Madison Heights school.

Harwell secured grant funding to transform a school courtyard into a native garden that her students designed and planted themselves. The garden teaches kids how native plants support pollinators without pesticides while requiring less water and maintenance than traditional lawns.

The project earned Certified Wildlife Habitat status from the National Wildlife Federation. Harwell recently applied for funding to create a second garden, showing students that their small actions can create exponential environmental benefits.

She's also launching a new Michigan Ecology elective next year that she pitched to the school board. The course will help students understand how individual choices ripple outward to help the planet.

Harwell has taught middle school since 2007, starting in Charlotte, North Carolina, before joining Lamphere district five years ago. She says she remembers being "a bit of a stinker" herself in middle school in Waterford, which helps her empathize with students navigating intense pressure from social media, cyberbullying, and global concerns.

"They're really waking up to who they're going to be and what they want in life," Harwell said. "I try to be the adult who sees them for who they are."

The Ripple Effect

Fellow science teacher Adam Kedzior, who nominated Harwell, says she "teaches with pure joy" and brings remarkable energy and constant laughter to her classroom. Superintendent Dale Steen notes that her impact "can be seen every day" at Page Middle School.

The native gardens Harwell helped create will continue teaching students long after they leave her classroom, attracting birds and insects while demonstrating what's possible when people choose hope over helplessness.

Young people across Oakland County now have proof that one teacher's vision can transform both a campus and the students who learn there.