Rachel Greenough

Rachel was born in Sitka, Alaska and moved to Oregon when she was three. Her family continued to spend summers on the boat in Southeast Alaska while her dad was part of the commercial salmon fishery. It was on that boat that Rachel learned to read, and spent hours engrossed in piles of books from the Sitka Public Library.

Rachel earned her bachelors degree from Carleton College, where she double majored in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies. After school, Rachel participated in a SEA Semester program aboard a tall ship and fell in love with the middle of the ocean and experiential education. She spent 7 years living and teaching on board tall ships, eventually earning her 1600 ton merchant marine captains license from the coast guard and sailing as chief mate aboard the Corwith Cramer. The coolest place she has sailed to is the Phoenix Islands group, a group of mostly uninhabited coral atolls just south of the equator. Rachel is proud to have set foot on the island where Amelia Earhart is said to have ended her last voyage.

Upon her return to land, Rachel drove a school bus, did some volunteering in schools, spent time in the garden, and got a big yellow dog named Caper.

When she settled on education, Rachel chose the two-year Inclusive Elementary Educators Program at Portland State University. Rachel has a passion for finding the individualized best fit for every student and fostering a rigorous, inclusive environment where all students can learn and feel secure. She previously worked in the Tigard Tualatin School District as a Learning Specialist, tutored students with dyslexia and reading disabilities, and taught some courses in the Graduate School of Education at PSU. Her current passions in education are reading instruction and behavior management. Rachel believes in using research-based methods, applied in a student-centered way. She is thrilled to work at Park Academy, where these ideals are applied every day.

Rachel lives in Tualatin on a piece of land dubbed Blue Tractor Farm. She lives with her wife, Morgan, and her dog. In her free time, Rachel loves to garden, paddle, mow fields on her tractor, and go to Portland Thorns soccer games. <

Email: rgreenough@parkacademy.org