Rachel Candaso is the 2025 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year, representing Pitt County Schools in the Northeast region. She teaches the sixth through eighth grade Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) elective.

Born and raised on Guam, Candaso earned a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice and political science from Arizona State University. Her path to education began through Arizona State’s Inside Out program at Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville, where she saw the transformative power of education to change life outcomes, even in the most difficult circumstances.

At Wellcome Middle, Candaso revitalized the AVID program, guiding it from years of stagnation to sustaining schoolwide implementation in 2023. She also serves as an advisor to the North Carolina State Board of Education and as chair of Gov. Josh Stein’s Teacher Advisory Council, where she amplifies teacher and student voices to influence state policy.

Her recognitions include being a 2020 AmeriCorps and Teach For America alumna, a Kenan Fellow at North Carolina State University and a graduate of the Pitt County Schools Teacher Leadership Institute. Through the Activate Fellowship with Teach For America, she supported 28 new teachers in the 2025–26 school year. She has also secured more than $20,000 in grants to expand student opportunities and has presented nationally at the AVID National Conference and as an educator speaker at the 2025 AVID Summer Institute.

Candaso’s pedagogical priorities focus on expanding access, building opportunity and preparing students for college, careers and civic life in partnership with families and communities.