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9:30 a.m., the first class of the morning on a cold November Tuesday. Rachel Schwaller walks into an even colder Rasmussen computer lab to teach Narrative Photography, ironically known for its terrible Wi-Fi connection. In class we dig into the elements of telling photographic narratives. She prompts everyone about our purpose and struggles. Her afternoon is a whirlwind of art history, advising and lesson planning. She is constantly planning ways to shake things up. 

“Can we chat?” I timidly ask her after almost every class. She smiles and usually waves me to her office. We discuss projects, school, the hardships and crazy existentialism of life. Rachel is always down to talk and is too nice to remind me this time is not part of her office hours. As my favorite professor, I do not like seeing her only twice a week. 

 A year ago, I never bothered her as much as I do now. Rachel intimidated me. She knows this; often people have said they found her intimidating until getting to know her. She is an introvert, but her energy towards art is intense. The way her eyes light up is how you know it is authentic. It is initially hard to know how to approach that excitement. 

Rachel’s almost 10 years of teaching experience show she has an incredible talent for commanding the attention of a room. It is the way she incorporates humor and never takes herself too seriously. Classes with her breeze by; she makes them worthwhile by presenting content relevant to student’s lives. 

It is now another day; twentieth century art history happens at 1:00 p.m.Tuesday and Thursday. We sit in a plain room in Rasmussen, mostly used for math classes. Hardly a creative environment for artists, but Rachel makes it work. She takes every opportunity to make class fun, whether it is decorating cookies like famous art pieces, or today’s activity.

“Today we’re having a ‘happening!’” she says excitedly. We stare in bewilderment as Rachel stretches out long rolls of brown paper and pushes the furniture out of the center of the room. There are a variety of markers and glue sticks. She sets up a record player and throws out a couple of card games amongst the chaos.

“Carly, this is for you,” Rachel says with a wink, sliding a mysterious hot pink deck across the floor. 

It is UNO, but a Barbie themed version. Only Rachel would remember my love of nostalgia and old toys. She takes notice of the little things you say. As she sets up, I gaze at my friend Olivia across the room, “what is Rachel up to now?”

Olivia Palmer is a junior and fellow studio arts major, with a minor in theatre. We have become friends during our studies and have enjoyed Rachel’s classes. Though they do not recall their first interaction with Rachel, Olivia remembers her zest and energy for teaching.

“It wasn’t until Survey of Art History that I had Rachel. She was your usual upbeat kind of self, and I thought this hopefully won’t be a boring class,” Olivia said. 

Rachel goes on explaining a “happening” referencing artists from the 1960s coming together to create something new. Conversation and making something new are what Rachel is all about. We sit together, sprawled out across the floor, scribbling thoughts about art onto this huge piece of paper. This is the kind of place I want to be. This is the experience students get from a Rachel Schwaller class. 

My classes with Rachel have always been fun. I crashed her Survey of Art History class to observe her teaching from an outside perspective. It is awkward walking into a new space, a shift from the familiarity of my own classmates. When I asked if I could come Rachel gave me a look as if to say, ‘really? Aren’t you going to be bored?’ I could never be bored when Rachel is involved.

“I’m way behind with grading,” Rachel laughs as she begins class and starts a clip from “Monty Python” with knights fighting. Always something weird, it is quintessential Rachel. 

I was nervous to speak in this class, no one wants to say something wrong when it comes to art. The feeling clearly does not change from year-to-year. As Rachel starts into her lecture, most of the students are quiet. 

“Are you guys with me today? You’re killing me,” she says half-jokingly. But she keeps reengaging, Rachel knows students are nervous to talk about art. It is an experience they must gain confidence in. She has mastered navigating awkward silences. Students get more comfortable as class goes on and discussion flows. 

Rachel speaks with so much confidence and clarity, she does not need to rely on anything. She prompts with questions, always rewarding any effort. Her teaching style has not only shaped students, but other professors around her. 

Aaron Tinder is head of the art department and Rachel’s closest colleague and they have known each other and worked together for 13 years. Aaron remembers meeting Rachel before teaching, as a juror for an exhibition she was part of. Her photography and work came with a wicked sense of humor, something not often seen in contemporary artwork. 

“I remember thinking she was a really energetic, fun seeming person. She came across very open and willing to talk,” Tinder said. 

The core of Rachel’s classes involves combining fun with learning. That is how she makes everything so memorable. Aaron has especially appreciated the way Rachel approaches teaching.

“My teaching style has evolved and gotten better since I’ve known her, Tinder said. I respect the way she maintains rigid standards of what she expects from students without losing making things fun and doing things differently.”

As class continues, someone notices the heads of human figures within a Byzantine art piece look like acorns, something Rachel came up with.

“That’s not a technical term, that’s totally mine,” Rachel says with a laugh.

Rachel is expressive, she talks with her hands and moves around the room throughout class. She throws her whole self into teaching; it keeps everyone engaged. She puts an art piece on the projector, leaving these sophomores silent with how awkwardly bad it is. 

“You’re speechless, excellent,” she says.

When Rachel teaches it feels like she is just talking to you, she knows how to be a person before a professor. I appreciate that she is so grounded. 

“How are you?” This is how Rachel starts every personal interaction, always sincere. I flipped the question on her. 

“How are you, genuinely?” I ask her. Rachel tells me she is doing ok, though mentally a little tired. We sit in her small office on campus, a colorful menagerie of art and wonderfully weird knick-knacks. Though Rachel argues her office does not allow her to feel creative, it is one of my favorite spots to talk out my thoughts. 

Rachel goes far beyond the traditional classroom to connect with students. There have been times where she has reached out to me, going past any obligation. It is validating to know she understands life is more than being a student. “You’re not just a number, you’re not just a person in my class that I may not see again… I care because you’re a whole person,” Rachel said.

Rachel becomes a great confidante when you realize the care she has for others. She has an incredible emotional awareness and almost-psychic ability to understand people. She is also trustworthy. I have been astounded by the things Rachel has indirectly noticed. 

“I think that’s one of the skills I have is being able to read a person enough to get to the root … I don’t think you’re just an artist. You’re a holistic being … your mind, body and all the parts of you work together,” she said.

This skill can leave students vulnerable and catch them off guard. Rachel has thrown me many curveballs and given me a lot to reflect over.

“I ask deep, very reflective questions that make people get down to the heart of who they are,” she said.

 She talks a lot about how these big questions can lead students to go through an “I hate Rachel” phase. I went through this last year when I took her sculpture class. It was my first experience with her classes and studios. She pushed constantly, and it frustrated me. It was the first time someone had told that I could do better. Rachel wanted me to go deeper, talk about the issues and things important to my identity. I was not ready to be vulnerable. Trust like that had to be earned. This advanced into her creative process class, a requirement for all studio arts majors. 

It was a rough class, a choose your own adventure, except I had no idea what the adventure was and there were no real grades till the end of the semester. It was a matter of relying on myself and ideas, a lot of independence and responsibility. Rachel never told me exactly what to do, that is not how she works. This becomes hard for students grappling with understanding validation is not everything. But Rachel was always willing to help. I sat with her over Zoom for four months during creative process, and it was anything but easy. 

“I feel like you always live in that state of potential. Maybe in a few years if I give you some tools you might be able to open up, you might grow,” she said. “I really look at academia in undergrad as a safe space to try and experiment because you just never quite have the same kind of experience after you get out of school.”

Always kind and patient, allowing Rachel to know me fostered a strong sense of trust. She holds no judgement and is compassionate and diligent in listening to students. Taking her photography class has allowed me to slowly open up more. Working through my initial anxieties has led me to realize how comfortable she makes you; she truly is a safe space. Olivia has felt the same sentiment.

“I think people might be surprised by how personal she can be, because she has a very big personality. If they had only taken survey with her and then a studio like I did it’s like oh, you really want to get to know your students and what they want to make art about and help them improve in a way that’s specific to them,” Olivia said.

Rachel is a great listener, always jotting notes down on a scratch piece of paper. She is great for generating ideas and has brilliant ways of looking at problems that I never expected. It is a skill I am envious of.

“I’m a very curious person, I try to take in a lot and then I just tend to have a lot of things like, ‘you could do this, you could do that.’ Art history has been very beneficial to me because the more I’ve taught the more I know about all these other people that have done these things,” Rachel said.

I have always been fascinated by Rachel’s ideas. It is inspiring as a student to see what she has achieved and relate that to the process of my own work.

“I make work about the absurdity of life, in this constant need to compete, mostly with myself. Most of that work is about identity and it’s usually about the psychological and the social dynamics of oneself as in, me,” she said.

Rachel’s work is witty and incredibly self-aware. We share similar ideas in terms of identity and thinking about what it means to be female. Aaron and I agree what sets her work apart is her conceptualism, it takes time to understand what she does.

“If you stop and read it at that surface level, you’re really missing what it’s all about. Her work is super intelligent, and I have tons of respect for what she does,” Tinder said. “I think she’s unafraid to put herself into her work which is something that’s hard for all of us to do.” 

When it comes to discussing my artwork and the work of my classmates, Rachel is never one to sugarcoat. I have found her sincerity to be beneficial in developing my projects.

“I just believe in being honest, but not mean. I don’t want it to be where I’m attacking you as a person. I am here to make you as good as I can make you, I’m here to push you as hard as I can,” she said. Olivia has found a similar appreciation for Rachel’s honesty.

 “I think people get their work sugarcoated a little too often, a lot of times people mince words and try to make everything nice and comfortable for everyone all the time,” Olivia said. “It’s good that she always wants to make things a safe space, but she doesn’t want to let you coast. I think if she wasn’t blunt, I wouldn’t have developed to where I am.”

Rachel always hits with hard questions; she is incredibly introspective. She has made me a better artist in learning how to talk about my work, even when it is difficult.

“Everything that fuels you makes your work … Allowing you to open up and share, even if it’s messy … I’d rather you get it out and speak it because then the next time you say it it’ll be a little bit more articulate,” she said.

Rachel’s passion for the arts and educating students is how she makes such an impact, and what makes her my favorite professor. She wants all students to be their best.

“She continues to push me to push myself. It’s going back to the whole thing of she wouldn’t let me just coast. You have ideas, you have the skills. You need to challenge yourself and do more than what you’re doing,’” Olivia said.

Rachel is everything a professor should be. Funny, personal, informative and above all else, kind. I admire her confidence to authentically be herself, it is something I am personally striving to work more towards. 

“I’m to the point where I’m like this is who I am, and I think I make pretty decent work now. I had to work at it to get it to a good spot, but I’m pretty comfortable now,” Rachel said. There are teachers and professors we remember for better or worse. Rachel Schwaller will always hold a top spot among my favorites. Her dedication towards her classes and students are like no other, I cannot recommend her classes enough. I am grateful to have her in my life as part of my support system and hope I can shape someone’s life in the same way she has shaped mine.