Hastings native Rachel (Latuff) Betterley has made a lot of headlines for competing in pageants. The former Miss Minnesota was also named Mrs. Petite USA last year.
Now, she’s being lauded for her achievements as a teacher. She moved to Cook, MN for her teaching career and has been an art teacher for nearly a decade.
She was announced last week as one of the finalists for Minnesota Teacher of the Year. Betterley teaches in the St. Louis County School District.
The list of finalists for Minnesota Teacher of the Year was cut to 27 and will be pared down to 10 by the end of this month.
Betterley, in a Facebook post, touted the healing process of visual arts.
“Art education is the heart of my ‘why’ and it has been an honor to do so for the past 11 years and throughout my time as a national (pageant) titleholder,” she said. “I also do recognize that the title of Minnesota Teacher of the year is a microphone to advocate for the wellbeing of teachers and students regardless of where we live.”
She advocates for the #artheals movement.
“Being passionate for art, my beliefs on what it can do for your mental health development and willingness to get messy for students at any cost to help them find his is the role I vibe with,” she said.
She told The Journal last year, “A lot of my service work involves helping students and youth find healing from their traumas through art. What I want to do with my year is really focused on that, inspiring people to tap into their creative side and to know whatever kind of struggles they're going through, whatever it may be, they can find healing in expression through art. It really is just about inspiring and uplifting at the same time and focusing on that philanthropy aspect as well is really important to me. I knew I wanted to become an art teacher ultimately because I wanted to help kids heal. I have a lot of my own personal childhood trauma where I found a lot of healing through art. I just didn't know it as a kid. I was constantly drawing, but it really is the root of why I became an art teacher in the first place, and ultimately what led me to express myself through the art of pageantry.”
