Rachael Ray is the 2023 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year.  She has been a High School Spanish Teacher in Madison County since 2019.  In 2017, she graduated from Gardner-Webb University with a Bachelor's Degree in History and a minor in Spanish in addition to graduating from Liberty University with her Master's Degree in Administration and Supervision in 2023.  She has an NC teaching license and is certified to teach History and Spanish.  Rachael is the Interact Advisor at Madison High School and serves on the Instructional Leadership Team.  She was the founder of the Staff Spirit Committee and works to encourage and uplift educators. Outside of teaching she is a thrift store queen, Christmas tree farmer with her husband, and lover of mountains, awkward dancing, and yard sales.  She is passionate about infusing joy in the classroom and into mundane moments of everyday life.