Episode 801: Rooted in Service: Meet the 2026 Georgia Teacher of the Year

Ashley Mengwasser:

Believe it or not, it is now 2026. Yeah, I don't know how we got here, but the grand prize is you get to meet the 2026 Georgia Teacher of the Year. I'm about to introduce a 15-year educator who has competed in rodeos, hobby gardens, and thrives on forging flourishing connections between her classroom and the community. She's incredible, and she's all ours, for approximately the next 30 minutes. Very tight schedule, this one. Classroom Conversations season eight starts right now.

Educators, welcome. Thank you for listening to Classroom Conversations, the platform for Georgia's teachers. I'm Ashley Mengwasser, your energetic host of this award-winning series featuring my favorite professionals, Georgia educators. With this episode, production partners, the Georgia Department of Education and Georgia Public Broadcasting officially launch season eight to amplify teacher and administrator voices from across the state, so you can share and learn. This season, we're zooming in on a timely, pressing topic: student attendance. And what better way to start season eight than with a grand champion?

Step right up, step right up! But no stampedes, please. We're delighted to bring you Georgia's 2026 Teacher of the Year, a CTAE teacher from Morgan County High School in Madison, Georgia. CTAE refers to career, technical, and agricultural education courses that prepare students for the next step after high school, whether they pursue further education or enter the workforce. My honored guest is an agricultural science teacher here to share her TOTY platform. The message she proudly parades from district to district is all about being rooted in service. She misses her classroom a lot, but I think she's acclimated pretty well to the microphone.

Please welcome your best-in-show educator, a 2024 Milken Educator Award winner, and 2026 Georgia Teacher of the Year, Rachel Kinsaul. Hi, Rachel.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Hey, thanks for having me.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What brings you to Atlanta today?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Well, I was actually at the Capitol this morning for a Senate committee hearing talking about teacher retention. I was just there to add some insight along.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And we abducted you from the Senate to get you in here on our podcast studio. Have you done many of these yet so far?

Rachel Kinsaul:

I've done a couple podcasts. I'm really enjoying the podcast thing. I love getting to sit and have conversations about what's really happening in the classroom and around the state, so I'm loving podcast life.

Ashley Mengwasser:

We're honored you're here. Can't wait to meet you. Congratulations on Teacher of the Year, by the way. How did you react to that fateful day at Lake Lanier Islands? Isn't that where they do it, where they announced that you were the winner?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes. I was a little overwhelmed. Originally, I said I wasn't going to do it. I said, "I'm not going to step out of the classroom for the year, go around the state." And then I realized that I need to practice what I preach and it's about service and advocating for our industry. At that point, it's bigger than me. And this has been a really awesome opportunity for me to advocate for agriculture and for CTAE. And so, I was very overwhelmed, excited about the opportunity and quick turnaround to prepare to be gone for the year.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And go, right?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

How did your loved ones react to this big news? I know you have a husband and kids and...

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes, yes. I have a husband and small children. So, as we were talking about it, he just said, "Rachel, this is opportunity that you can't pass up. So, this might be hard, but we'll make it work."

Ashley Mengwasser:

And he said get to work, right?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

I admire that. I have to draw attention to your surname, the English Kinsaul, which means “royal house.” So, clearly you were destined for royalty. Did you know that? I did not know that. I was like, could this be true? I think that's incredible. You were destined for such a time as this. I want to start with your connection to agriculture, which begins all the way in childhood, right? Start us there.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. So, I grew up on a small beef cattle farm with my grandparents and my parents. And I participated in rodeos with my father. I was a horse kid, and that's what took me to the University of Georgia. I was an animal science major. And then from there, I went to work at a kid's ranch camp in Wyoming, and that's where I learned.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Wyoming.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Wyoming. Yes, in Dubois, Wyoming, population less than a thousand.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Wow.

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, neat experience to get to meet people from all over the country, but that's where I really realized that I liked working with kids. Ag education seemed to be an easy way to connect two of my passions.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What was your role there?

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, I was on the barn staff. So, we had about 70 head horses each summer. We used those horses to go on pack trips or trail rides, do rodeos at the camp. And so, I got to teach kids and counselors how to ride horses.

Ashley Mengwasser:

A love of this is in your blood. I can already tell. And a graduate twice over of UGA?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What are your degrees?

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, animal science is my first degree. By the time I realized that I wanted to be an ag teacher, I had already struggled through science-level chemistry, science level biology, and I wanted my degree to reflect that. So, I finished animal science and then got my master's in ag leadership. And that's where my teaching certification came from is through my master's program.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yeah. How did you wind up in education? I'd love to hear the educator arc because we hear from a lot of people who felt called to it from a very young age and others who were like, "This was a total accident. This is my second career." Where are you on that spectrum?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. So, I went to a small private school, so I knew nothing about ag education, knew nothing about FFA. And so, it was really that college advisor that sparked that passion. And when he mentioned ag ed, I was like, "What is that?" I didn't even know that this was an option for me. So, it was really my college advisor that created that spark.

Ashley Mengwasser:

A mentor who pushed you in that direction. What have you been up to so far in your year office, Teacher of the Year?

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, a lot of keynotes. Yeah, I've actually had the opportunity to talk to a lot of administrators, more so than teachers. I thought that coming into this, I was expecting to speak to many more teacher groups, but that hasn't been the case. And I think it's been really good though, because I feel like a lot of times when I'm speaking to teachers, they know what I'm saying. They feel that they can empathize with that. But being able to speak to administrators, I feel like I'm getting to say the things that teachers want to tell administrators. And so, that's been a really fun shift for me. I did get to go, the Second Lady of the United States came to Cherokee County and read a book.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Really?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes. I got to go to that. I was practicing what I was going to say to her when I shook her hand.

Ashley Mengwasser:

I love that, Rachel.

Rachel Kinsaul:

We got to stand about 30 yards away.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So, you just waved?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. We got to listen to her read a book, so I didn't get to say anything, but I was excited. I was there. I was ready for that.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What a full circle moment that you essentially get to talk to administrators as an educator on behalf of educators. I'm curious what the reception has been to Georgia's first ag Teacher of the Year, CTAE Teacher of the Year, do you know?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. So, really it's been great. Everybody I meet says, "We are so glad that there's a CTAE teacher in this role right now." And I really think that's a testament to the shift that we're starting to see in education where CTAE used to be the redheaded stepchild and now it's something that people see a lot of value in. I think that also goes to the fact of how I got here. And in order to be in a space to run for Teacher of the Year to compete for that, your school has to see value in what you're doing.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Because you're nominated right? That's a process.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes, you're nominated by your school. And so, I think there are a lot of CTAE teachers that are getting this opportunity now. And so, schools are starting to see value in that. Administrators are starting to see value in that. And people really want to support the CTAE program in the state.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And here you are, a wonderful exemplar. In your speech, you said you told them, "Hey, I'm not a product of public education." Can you give us a summary of what that talk was?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah, that's a big fun thing for me, especially now as we're getting older, my friends are having kids and everybody's starting to make that decision of where your kids will go to school. I've had this conversation a lot. I really enjoyed my time in high school, but I am not a product of public education. And now looking back on it, my children are enrolled in the public school system. It's because of what I know now and the opportunities that are available in the public school system and just how vast they are. The CTAEoptions that we have even at our small school are culinary and cosmetology and ag, engineering, healthcare, marketing, audio, visual. I mean, the list is endless.

And so, for kids to be able to explore that many different areas in high school or take AP classes or dual enrollment or work-based learning, it's just unreal. So, it really is an individualized education for every student to be able to go through the public school system, so I guess.

Ashley Mengwasser:

I guess you are a huge advocate.

Rachel Kinsaul:

I guess I am a huge advocate for public education. I felt this way before I got this role too. It's not a show,like this is a real conversation that I have with my friends on a daily basis.

Ashley Mengwasser:

This is your real life. You talked about the value of ag. Even your hobbies are ag-related. What is your hobby that involves petals? Will you share it with us?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Oh, yes. So, I decided about two summers ago that I wanted to be a cut flower farmer. Once a month, I decorate the lobby of our church with flowers. And I just thought one summer, I was like, "I want to go out in my yard and be able to clip everything in my yard. I don't want to have to go buy anything." This is the second summer that we did it, but I created a cup flower garden in my yard and started selling flowers really just-

Ashley Mengwasser:

Out of your yard.

Rachel Kinsaul:

... out of my yard and I made it. That first summer, I looked around, I set up everything in the church lobby and I was like, "I did this." Every single thing in this lobby came from my yard. And so, that was my point where I was like, I made it work.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Very impressive. You are very resourceful. We'll hear more stories about that. What varieties do you grow?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Dahlia's is a big thing right now. I am digging up dahlia tubers and preparing them for the winter. Then there's a lot of easy things like zinnias and cosmos that'll pop up quickly that are great fillers. There's a lot of things that have self-seeded, some celosia that just pops up everywhere. I've got some peonies where we are in the state. I'm on the border of whether those will work or not. So, they're a long-term investment for me. But yeah, and then I like to plant a lot of perennials around my house. Most of my garden are annual seeds that come and go. And I love to use herbs. So, I use a lot of rosemary or basil as the greenery in my flowers. And so, that's what I get from a lot of people.

They say, "Everything smells so good." And I'm like, "Well, it's because you've got a lot of scents."

Ashley Mengwasser:

That was intentional. It's very herbaceous. My favorite flour is the ranunculus, known as the buttercup. Can you grow those in your yard?

Rachel Kinsaul:

I think you can, but I have been not. You have to start them a little earlier because it gets a little too hot in the middle of the summer. That's like part of my problem. I only have time to do this. I usually get started in spring break because I'm off school for a week. I can do a lot of work of spring break and then I let things just grow. I have irrigation set up, so let things grow. And then I can come back in the summer when things really start to come off and need to be picked. But then once school starts back, I'm like, "I don't have time for this anymore."

Ashley Mengwasser:

But look at you now, cut flower farmer. And you said you even have a little bit of a wildflower garden at school, right? Yeah.

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, I want kids to see the value in this and how easy it is. I think about my irrigation system, that was something that was very intimidating for me. And once I did it, I was like, "Oh, that was easy." And I felt like the kids needed that level of comfort with that too. So, we installed irrigation systems and they help fix the drip irrigation. We have a little cut flower garden and a vegetable garden, but I felt like if I could show the kids like, "This is really easy. You can do this too," might inspire some of them to do it at home too.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And you said you make those flowers available during the summer. So, if anybody's passing by and it's growing, they can just clip some.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

That's a beautiful offering. Cut flower farmer. Well done. Well, let's get into your CTAE course offerings and student attendance from your vantage point. I think we should start with just a conversation about agriculture. So, ag and agribusiness is actually Georgia's leading industry with more than 74 billion in annual economic impact according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development. So, this is not only a relevant, but a very valued career pathway in our state. How long has ag education been offered at Morgan County High School where you teach?

Rachel Kinsaul:

I do not know the exact number for that. FFA was first started in 1928, and we have been trying to go back and find when our chapter was chartered, but I'm not sure on the exact date.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And that's Future Farmers?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Future Farmers of America. In 1988, they actually changed the name to just be the national FFA organization because so many kids in our classroom, like 2% of America are in production ag. And so, in my classroom, there might be one or two kids that are going to go into production, but there's so many other jobs in agriculture. And so, the name, we call it the National FFA Organization or just FFA now, instead of saying out future farmers of America because we don't want kids to think that if I'm...

Ashley Mengwasser:

I have to be a farmer.

Rachel Kinsaul:

I have to be a farmer. Just because I'm not a future farmer doesn't mean there's not a role for you somewhere in agriculture.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Right. A little bit of a rebrand I wasn't aware of, but that makes sense in modern times and it invites a larger student body, which we'll talk about. Can you just list the four ag courses that you teach at Morgan?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes. So, I teach an introduction to ag science, which is a little bit of everything. So, a little bit of animal science, a little bit of forest science, a little bit of horticulture, a little bit of ag mechanics. The idea is that once they've taken that class, they'll know what other ag class they'd like to go into after that. And then I also teach horticulture where we run a greenhouse. So, we do annual bedding plants, vegetable starts. We do a big sale for the community. Teach forest science.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, forestry. What does that entail?

Rachel Kinsaul:

We're going out into the woods. We're measuring trees, trying to figure out how many logs you can cut out of each tree. We measure, do land calculations, a lot of tree identification. A pine is not a pine and an oak is not just an oak. There are like a gazillion varieties, so we talk about...

Ashley Mengwasser:

That sounded so poetic. Pine is not just a pine. This is the season for deciduous trees, right?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

We have a lot of trees losing their leaves and such. So, they learn all of that.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes, they learn all of that. And then I also teach floral design and floral design has been my baby. We run a full floral program out of our classroom. It is 100% community funded.

Ashley Mengwasser:

It is so cool. And I want to go piece by piece into that. So, we're going to put that down and pick it back up. But of course, your students get a floral farmer to teach them this. What better teacher? One of the things you said when we first spoke, which I loved was, "I focus on teaching urgency." Why do you think that's needed, and how do you teach urgency?

Rachel Kinsaul:

I think about the fact that so many times a week we've gone to the industry in our community and asked these questions of like, what do the kids need? That is one thing that's come back each time is like just there's not a lot of initiative in this generation, just like how do you teach initiative? And I think the way that I focus on teaching initiative is by teaching urgency. We do a lot of real-world projects that have to get done on a timeline. It is not the bell's ringing, we're done, we'll pick it up tomorrow. This has to get done today because someone's coming to pick it up. And so, just showing them that real world aspect of this.

We have a deadline, this has to be swept and they don't do that naturally. It's work for me to be like teaching them how to work efficiently.

Ashley Mengwasser:

The structure of that.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah, the structure of that of, okay, you're finished with your task. Grab a broom. We need to start cleaning up, move on to the next task. If you have nothing to do, come find me. Working with them so that they understand like we're not sitting, we have an hour, we have to get this done and teaching them to look for the next thing.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Right. That's really good instruction. You're proctoring project management, which includes time management because as you'll share with us, some of these projects are paid projects. These students have clients, so this teaches them that sense of urgency. Can you list and describe in brief some of the activities your students might engage in as part of their immersion into your ag coursework? I'll offer the first one up. I understand you and your students actually visit working farms as one activity you do.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. So, I think it's really important for them to see things. I can teach them about it in the classroom, but we don't have the resources to have a fully functioning dairy. So, if we can load them up on a bus and take them over to the dairy to show them, or like every kid needs to milk a cow once in their life.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Absolutely. I've not done that, but missing out.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Well, you can come with us on our next field trip.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Thank you, Rachel.

Rachel Kinsaul:

But yeah, so we like to take them out to the farms just so they can see things that are happening. We have a Georgia Pacific plant that makes plywood. And so, that's one of the things where I take my forestry kids because it's really cool. You get to see the tree and then every step of the process of how it turns into plywood. So, I really like to connect my students with the community. And so, showing them ways where they can plug in or they can find work in their community is really important to me. So, even things like, we have a Madison Morgan Conservancy that focuses on land conservation.

So, we do a lot of projects with them as well to try to show the kids what their focus is and how we can protect rural America.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Do your students keep or tend any animals or products at the school? I know you mentioned a garden.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes, yes. We also have a school livestock barn. So, that was finished in October of last year. And this is a great opportunity for students who maybe live in a subdivision, maybe with an HOA or maybe live in town. If they don't have a place to keep an animal at their houses, they can keep them there at school. Right now, we have seven pigs. One of them is my child's. So, we're at the pig barn twice a day feeding pigs, getting them prepared for the show. That really teaches a lot of responsibility and just perseverance trying to get through, but it's also teaching them about the industry. These pigs have a endpoint.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Don't say it Rachel.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. But we have to learn about the industry.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Exactly, exactly. You mentioned getting them ready for the show.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What show?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Oh, yes. So, we go to five or six jackpots around the state throughout the season. The season runs September to February and the pigs are being judged and the kids are being judged. They go on the first time for showmanship and the judge is looking for how the student positions their animal or how they exhibit their animal. And then the second time they go in, they're judging the actual animal on its structure, muscle mass, things like that. The kids have to learn to walk. They have to train their animal to walk. We do five or six of those. And then the state show is in February in Perry, and there are usually about 2,000 pigs from across the state.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Incredible. I just got a great download here that you could potentially tour the state and talk to administrators with a pig. Have you thought about that? Nothing demonstrates ag better than livestock, right?

Rachel Kinsaul:

That's true. That's true. We're pretty good at loading them up and taking them with us so we can handle it.

Ashley Mengwasser:

There you go. There might be some logistical challenges there. I have an actual expert in front of me that you can help me with something I've been thinking about. You mentioned the students who have an HOA, live in a neighborhood, can't have livestock. I really want a donkey. Do you have any donkeys?

Rachel Kinsaul:

I do have a donkey.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What can you tell me about donkeys? I'm obsessed.

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, they're really sweet. We got our donkey because we also have some goats and so they also are very protective.

Ashley Mengwasser:

They're working animals.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Do you have minis or what do you have?

Rachel Kinsaul:

We have one mini donkey. Yes, her name is Ruth.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, Ruth. That's a great donkey name. But I heard donkeys can overeat.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Oh, they can. She lives off grass, but she's very fat, so she can't ever eat.

Ashley Mengwasser:

A woman after my own heart. Well, project-based learning is your arena. That's all that you've described here. You provide students with endless PBL opportunities and even created a new course so that you could better engage all demographics of students in agricultural education. Tell us the story of the course you created and who you were trying to draw with the new course.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. So, when I first started at Morgan County, I was teaching ag mechanics and I can do it, but I do not consider myself the best ag mechanics teacher by any means.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What is ag mechanics?

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, electrical, small engines, woodworking, welding.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, wow.

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, I went to my CTAE director and I asked her if we could start a floral design class. And at that point when I first started in Morgan County, our ag classes with two teachers were 78% male. And so, I really wanted to bring in females to our ag classes. And I thought this floral design class might be our bright and shining star. And it has been. It's attracted kids in. Now we're more like 56% male.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Wow. That's a huge change.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Huge change. Floral design is extremely popular. We have huge long waiting lists to get in, but we only offer one course. Everyone asks us a lot like, can we offer a second course? But the whole purpose of this course was just to bring kids into our ag program. So, from there, we try to convince them to take other things, to take our intro class, to take horticulture, to take forestry or animal science or go from there. But I knew that floral design was going to be extremely expensive. And so, that was part of the selling point. I said, "If you can give me $1,000, I won't ask for another dime."

Ashley Mengwasser:

That's what you said to administration?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes. And I have not. I'm very proud of the fact that last year, we had about $60,000 come into just our cutflower oral account.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Whoa.

Rachel Kinsaul:

And every single bit of that is community funded through different projects that we put on throughout the year.

Ashley Mengwasser:

60Gs, Rachel. You mean business. Agribusiness. Tell me, what are some of these projects that your students do?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. So, the first one is our subscription program. So, that's how we got started. So, people in the community purchase a floral subscription and then they get one flower arrangement a month.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, I love this.

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, the first year that we did it, we had 36 subscribers. Now we have 75. And I think, a reason it's not more is because I just can't handle more. That is my line. That's the cutoff. 75 is the line. Another problem with that with these subscriptions was how are we going to deliver these? I knew if we could offer delivery, it would just expand our network. And so, we actually pulled in our special needs students. So, our special needs students go into the community every day anyway to market restaurants, or even work at local dog kennels. And so, now two days a month, they actually deliver our flowers. And so, I don't know if the people enjoy the flowers or the delivery team more, but...

Ashley Mengwasser:

Sounds like both.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Doesn't really matter.

Ashley Mengwasser:

You have some big clients too. You're not just doing the subscription service with your florals. You said you have events.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes, yes. We actually do the Georgia Agribusiness Council's Harvest celebration. We do about 75 centerpieces for that. And then we do the UGA's College of Ag, their awards program. So, we do about 50 arrangements, centerpieces for that. We also do events in our community for our mayor. All of the sports teams usually contract us out for centerpieces for their banquets. And then we also do real weddings.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Oh, wow. Have any brides and grooms met your students as a result of the florals at their wedding, do you know?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. Well, so a lot of times, what'll happen is I'll work through the logistics of this, but the kids will go with me on Saturday to help install them. So, they'll get to meet the bride and come see-

Ashley Mengwasser:

We're here for the installation. Yes, they're there for the installation. What wonderful urgency and real world experience you're providing your students. Just the way you want it. This season, we're focused on attendance and the issue of attendance in schools. So, we would love your take. You've traveled the state, you've taught for quite a while now, Morgan County High. If you could give us your take on the contributing factors you've seen when it comes to student absenteeism. Let's start there.

Rachel Kinsaul:

I know that there are lots of contributing factors. I had a student who was embarrassed to come to school because he didn't have clothes or he didn't have clean clothes. And so, we actually have an attendance team at our school, and I say attendance team. It's like one attendance lady and the community and school's representative who work if there's a kid with a chronic absenteeism to see if there's some underlying issue. But I also think there are a lot of kids who just don't want to come to school.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Really?

Rachel Kinsaul:

And I saw that for the first time when I was teaching in Loganville, I had a student who had missed 36 days of school and he was still passing my class at the end of the quarter in the semester.

Ashley Mengwasser:

What?

Rachel Kinsaul:

That was like a big reflection time for me. And what I'd realized I was doing was we would go out and do this hands-on lab in the greenhouse. Well, that would be really difficult for us to make up or like...

Ashley Mengwasser:

Ah, make-up work.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah, he couldn't do it after school without me and I had this, so I would exempt him from it. And then that would happen again and I would exempt him from it. And I realized at the end of the semester, I didn't realize it till the end that he had missed 36 days and missed all of these things. I'd exempted him from all of these things and he was still passing my class. It led me to hold a higher stance on accountability.

Ashley Mengwasser:

As a teacher.

Rachel Kinsaul:

As a teacher, yes. Holding that high stance on accountability and makeup work, which I feel like is really important. Now, I also think that teachers, if they're going to hold kids accountable, have to have strong procedures and an administration that backs them up on that. I especially see that need in CTAE courses where we are doing so many hands-on things and it's not something that the students can just take a worksheet home and make up, or it's not something they can get offline and make up. And I think that ever since COVID, that's been the case in a lot of the classes just because of how online we've taken a lot of our academic classes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

So, virtually.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yeah.

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, many things can be done online or everything is being posted into Google Classroom. So, if that's the case, why do I need to come to math class? Why do I need to come to English class if everything that we're doing is being posted and I can do it at home? making that shift, that's been a big priority at our school, what we've been tasked with. Are you giving work to our students that they can't do at home, they can't do without you? Is what you're giving them meaningful and relevant where they need to be in your classroom?

Ashley Mengwasser:

It's more strategic for teachers, then. Yes. Sounds like you're implementing grading practices that require students to be present in a seat.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes. Our entire CTAE department does employability grades. So, it's not just attendance and it's a smaller portion of their grade. We have it set at 20% of their grade, but it's, are they showing up on time? Are they showing up? Now, we do it where if they call in, they call in. So, if they send us an email to say, "I have a dentist appointment," then they don't lose their employability points for the day, but if they just don't show up, then they do. They also lose accountability points for disrupting class or horseplaying with their friends. Anything in a job setting that would get them in trouble, that's what we're going towards with our employability points.

That's our end goal. We are trying to prepare these students for a career of some sort.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Absolutely. And you're teaching those benchmarks early. What role does your approach to agricultural instruction play in improving that students don't want to come to school piece, heightening the student engagement with ag, so that they want to be in your classroom?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. I think just getting them up and getting them moving is really important and having them do hands-on activities where they see the relevance. Teacher clarity has been a big push around our school for a while, trying to teach the students why they're learning what they're learning. And that's been easy for us because that's all CTA. It's relevant. It's we're telling them, "This is why we're doing this lab. This is how it connects to the forestry industry. You need to understand how to do this because this is how it connects to horticulture or we have to complete this task because our plant sale depends on it or we have to complete this task because this wedding depends on it."

Making learning “real world” where they see the relevance has been the big benefit to CTAE and trying to get kids in the classroom.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And seeing the real-life consequence of not showing up and how that results in unhappy clients or a failed business venture, potentially. Has that ever happened before where there's been like a moment of reckoning for a student that's maybe missed something important and they have this awakening?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. Well, I see that more so on our FFA side of things because that's where a lot of our competitions are coming into play. And so, the kids will go into a competition and they'll think they did really well and then maybe it didn't go as well as they thought and we have a lot of reflection on, well, why did this happen? What can we Do better next time. How can we prepare for this in a different way next year? So, I see more of the failure in reflection through our CTSO, which is a career tech student organization.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Even your approach to feedback though is requiring student engagement. What could we do next? How can we approach differently? We've got to go back and we've got to revisit this. So, that also keeps them engaged and hopefully in school. And I know one thing that you really value, which I think will give your students a lot of pride is service. And it's the bedrock of your message to students and teachers this year. How did your passion for school service projects develop at your high school?

Rachel Kinsaul:

So, this actually came through FFA as well, but I was helping students with degree applications. And one of the requirements is that they have 25 hours of community service to earn their state degree. And I realized that so many of our students are lacking that community service aspect. They might've done a few things, but they didn't quite have that big of a bulk, unless they were involved in a church in some way. And so, I actually went to my principal and I had this big grand idea. I told her, I was like, "I want every kid in the entire school, all 1100 of them. We're all going to go out into the community. We're all going to do a service project on the same day. I can do logistics.

I'll get transportation. I'll do all of the things." And it was really powerful because she did not say, "Whoa, no, no-

Ashley Mengwasser:

Back off Rachel.

Rachel Kinsaul:

... turn around. That's it." No, she helped me morph that into an idea that would actually work. I like to say she said, "Wow," before she said, "How?" But she said, "How about we just do that with one grade level?" And so, that's when Sophomore Serve was born. So, for the last five years, 250 sophomores have gone into the community to 15 to 20 different service sites and completed two hours of community service. They get T-shirts, we do sponsors, they get food, but we really pump up the community service aspect of that day. And I think what it does is creates a lot of questions like, "What does this place do? Who are they helping?"

It's showing kids the resources that are available in our community too. It might be something that they need in the future, and it's showing them how to give back. Our community, especially in small communities, the community does so much for our school system. I think it's important to show the community that our students are giving back.

Ashley Mengwasser:

It's reciprocal.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Yes. And it's teaching your students the power of showing up, the impact that they can have in just a short time. They're only there for how long on that day, the sophomores?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Two hours. Yeah.

Ashley Mengwasser:

It's two hours of just pure impact and that's got to be very rewarding for them. Is that what you've seen?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah, yeah. And it's crazy. You know what? 30 high school boys with strong backs can do in two hours. So, a lot more than most people. So, that two hours is mighty, meaningful.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Mighty meaningful. Well done. And I know it seems like your message that you have to the state right now is about service. What is that message?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. So, I really talk about staying rooted in service and connecting classrooms and communities because community service is a huge aspect of that. But I also think that we're teaching kids how to use their skills to serve their communities through their careers. It has like a two-part message. And that was one of my biggest struggles coming into this role was how do I say all the things that I want to say in one tagline. And that's why I feel like this rooted in service thing has worked for me thinking too about not only the community service aspect, it's the first thing that comes to your mind, but also the workforce development that's going into preparing these students to serve their communities through their careers.

Ashley Mengwasser:

And from this passion, you have birthed with a little bit of help, the Georgia Public Schools Day of Service. What is that? I know it's coming up.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yes. So, March 18th, we are doing an all-call for all districts in the state to perform some acts of community service. It will look different for every district. Some districts might be able to send a large group of students, put them on a bus and send them out into the community to complete a service project at a state park or at a nonprofit. Other districts might choose to do things on campus, maybe helping out their janitors in the lunchroom or picking up trash or doing canned food drives or dog food drives for local animal shelters.

So, however it works for your district is great, but we're really pushing every district to go out and do something to show their communities that we care about what's happening in our community.

Ashley Mengwasser:

On a unified day of service. Imagine the impact if we did that every year, statewide. Before you leave GPB studios, Rachel, which I hate, but road warrior that you are, you must go. What is your final direct message to Georgia teachers listening now about their role in classrooms and how they can get their students to come to school and show up and engage in their learning?

Rachel Kinsaul:

Yeah. I think the big thing is to stay rooted in service and show our students that what they're learning can be used to serve their communities, to show them how the skills that they're learning... I think this really even goes back to like pre-K and kindergarten teachers. They're teaching students these skills of how to get along with one another. And that's a skill that they're going to need as they enter into the workforce.

So, I think so many times, like we as CTAE teachers or people think of us as like the only ones who are focused on workforce development, but really it's the goal of every public school teacher is trying to give their students skills or knowledge that they can build upon to serve their communities.

Ashley Mengwasser:

That is the real “why” behind it all, right? Equipping students for gainful and productive employment as active members of their communities. Thank you, Rachel, for being here and for blessing us with your royal lineage now that you know about it. Congratulations on being Teacher of the Year.

Rachel Kinsaul:

Thank you.

Ashley Mengwasser:

Educators sparked by Rachel, remember that the statewide Georgia Public Schools Day of Service is coming up on March 18th. Rachel would probably agree that the worst thing you could do that day is be absent. So, make sure you show up and devise a way to involve your local school system. It might help to say that the Teacher of the Year told you to. Just a pro-tip. I'm Ashley, stick with us weekly on a new season about the ins and outs of student attendance as we work to elevate your work in the classroom. You're a great teacher. And I know your 2026 Georgia Teacher of the Year agrees with me. Goodbye for now.