Growing up in her grandmother’s house in Dededo, Rachel Candaso didn’t imagine a world beyond Guam’s shores and expected she’d always be immersed in island culture, from the estufao her dad would make to the CHamoru classes she was taking in elementary school. 

But then her 1-year-old brother was diagnosed with leukemia, setting her on a journey of responsibility and empowerment that ultimately led to her becoming one of the country’s top educators and a prospective 2026 National Teacher of the Year.     

The 28-year-old was named North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year in April, making her a contender for the Council of Chief State School Officers’ national award recognizing exceptional educators around the country. 

For Rachel, the core CHamoru value of inafa'maolek has laid the foundation of her career. “To me, being a teacher just comes naturally, because I feel like in my culture, it's just something you do, right? You take care of others, you live into that belief that it takes a village, and you depend on others.”

Rachel’s journey began in Dededo, where she and her two siblings lived with their parents, Esther and Harvey Candaso, in the home of their maternal grandmother, Maria Iglesias Ogo. 

“My mom never moved out of the family home,” she said. “My dad just moved in, and we stayed in Dededo, and that’s where I was raised.”

On her father’s side, she traces her lineage to the southern villages, to Familian Påmparu on her paternal grandmother’s side and Familian Diso’ on her grandfather’s side. While her mother’s siblings had moved off island, they remained to take care of her grandmother until a family health scare changed the course of their lives.  

“In 2005, my brother was diagnosed with leukemia,” Rachel said. “And so back then, Guam did not have a pediatric oncologist or really any facility for him to get treatment. And so he and my dad moved to Los Angeles to the children's hospital there and stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for about a year, seeking treatment before my family made the move to Arizona,” where some of her mom’s family members were living at the time.

At the age of 10, Rachel stepped into the role of caretaker — at first for her younger sister on Guam, and later for the family after her brother’s treatment was successful, and they were navigating a whole new life in Arizona.    

“You know, on Guam, you have your family, you have your cousins, you have all of that to lean on to. But in Arizona, we had my mom's two sisters, but that was it, right? Like you go from being in a community to kind of being more isolated. And so it just caused me to step up in different roles than I ever had to. … I was the one filling out the paperwork and, you know, like figuring out things.”

Those and other family experiences were what she leaned on when it came time to choose a college major.  

“Just being the older sister, I was like, ‘Well, I really like teaching,” she said, adding that she was always helping her siblings with school work, even through summers, so they would be prepared for the next grade.  

At Arizona State University, she initially majored in elementary education but discovered other interests and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. Her return to education came after taking a class called "Inside Out," which paired college students with incarcerated individuals to discuss recidivism and transitioning back into society.

That experience solidified her belief that education is the most critical pathway to success.

“For me, as a low-income individual, seeing my parents struggle, I didn't know college was something that was attainable for me. It was something I took a chance on, because I felt like I didn't know what else to do, and I feel that education is what helped me figure out what I wanted to do with my life.” 

She ended up applying for Teach for America, an educational preparation and leadership program, and told them to place her wherever they needed her. That place turned out to be eastern North Carolina, where, in 2020, she once again found herself in a new environment as a middle school teacher at Wellcome Middle School in rural Pitt County. 

As she embraces the challenge of being one of the few Pacific Islanders in the area, she has been able to connect with her diverse student population, especially those who are new to the mainland, thanks to her own childhood.

“At my school, we went from being a majority African American school to now being about 40 percent Hispanic, 40 percent African American. And so I get to use those experiences that I had coming to Arizona and leaving my like home for somewhere completely new, and I get to translate that into appreciating the journey of my students and being able to empathize with their experiences. 

“Because I know what it's like to show up one day in a U.S. school, and be like, this is nowhere like home, right? Guam is a U.S. territory, but when you spend your entire life there, it feels like your own country. It feels like your own space, compared to living on the mainland. And so I definitely get to empathize with those experiences of my students, because it was 100% a culture shock when I moved.” 

In a poignant full-circle moment, Candaso recently taught a student from Chuuk, making them the first Pacific Islander student she had taught.

“I went from being like the only person like me growing up and going through schooling in Arizona to now being a teacher to someone who was also going through that experience,” she said.

Her commitment to her students was recognized by her peers and other educators in the state, beginning with her 2023 school-level Teacher of the Year award. The next year, she was awarded Teacher of the Year for the district and later the region, and in April of this year, she was named the North Carolina State Teacher of the Year. 

With about 100,000 teachers in North Carolina, Rachel set the standard in the state for achieving academic excellence, State Superintendent Maurice Green said in an April press release.

“Every student in North Carolina deserves a teacher like Ms. Candaso,” Green said in the release. “It is clear that she is committed to a vision of comprehensive, intentional student preparation, empowering educators, families and communities to ensure that all students are poised for success."

Thanks to her selection as a state awardee, Rachel is currently a contender for the National Teacher of the Year. 

“I don't know what the outcome of that will be, but I'm very honored to even just be this far because, like I said, I don't come from an educational background,” Rachel said. “I've only been a teacher for five years, so it truly has been an incredible journey. And so I'm honored just in that respect. 

“I'm very blessed to just be a part of the cohort of 2026 Teachers of the Year, to represent North Carolina, represent Arizona for the education I received there, but also to represent it as a CHamoru woman. I feel like, regardless, I'm just very grateful for the platform I've been given.” 

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