Rachel Walker was born in Crown Point, Indiana, did stints in Munster and Homewood, Illinois, and came back home twenty-one years ago to raise her kids where she grew up. Friends joke that she could run for mayor as she’s never met a stranger, something which half the town can vouch for. She’s also never let go of a radical idea she picked up when young: that everybody deserves a fair shot and a voice. And she’s been acting on that ever since- in her classroom, her union, and her community.
These days she teaches seventh grade science at Taft Middle School in Crown Point, where she’s held leadership roles in her building and with her union. She coaches VEX IQ Robotics teams that keep punching their tickets to State and the World Championships, and she coordinates robotics events and volunteers across local and state levels. VEX IQ named her Indiana Middle School Mentor of the Year in 2023, and her district has nominated her for Teacher of the Year more than once.
Teaching is actually her second act. Rachel spent over a decade as a photographer before going back to school, then taught kindergarten and first grade in Merrillville and Gary before landing her dream job: middle school science. She started at St. Mary’s in Crown Point, where she brought technology into the classroom and coached Science Olympiad, then taught seventh grade math in Hammond as part of an award-winning Science Olympiad and robotics program, sneaking STEM units into math class the whole time, before joining Taft in 2018 and she hasn’t looked back.
Her civic resume runs deep: Precinct Committeeperson in Crown Point, Election Inspector for Lake County, Secretary of the Northwest Indiana Women’s Caucus (part of the Indiana Federation of Democratic Women), and co-chair of a monthly Democrats Coffee and Conversation series that pulls in organizers and candidates from around the region. She’s a member of the National Education Association and the Polish Women’s Alliance, and has logged countless volunteer hours with 4-H, Boy Scouts of America, and more PTO and PTA groups than she can count.
Rachel earned her BA in Elementary Education with Highest Distinction from Purdue University Calumet and holds an Indiana Professional Educator’s License in Primary and Intermediate Elementary Education, Middle School Science, and Middle School Math. She lives in Crown Point with her two children and her dog, Gizmo. When she’s not in the classroom or advocating in the community, find her on a kayak, elbow-deep in a garden bed, or crocheting her way through a Netflix binge, and fair warning, she has never met a dog she didn’t want to adopt on the spot.