PEKIN, Ill. - It did not take long for Rachel Driver to become inspired with the work that happens at University of Illinois Extension. In the fall of 2024, she attended the horticulture core education program and a few months later she was hired as the new horticulture program coordinator serving Fulton, Mason, Peoria, and Tazewell counties.
“It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of Extension,” Rachel explained. “It allows me to utilize my love for Mother Nature with my passion for education. I am a firm believer that we are all lifelong learners, and the world is our classroom.”
Rachel has nearly a decade of experience working for Peoria Public Schools as a primary education teacher, tutor, and data specialist. Her professional experience teaching, communicating with youth and adults, and maintaining all of the details that goes into managing a classroom translates perfectly with her new role. Rachel’s top priority is supporting the 150 Extension Master Gardener volunteers who serve the local four-county unit.
“Our Master Gardener team is one of the largest in the state,” noted Horticulture Educator Nicole Flowers-Kimmerle. “They are very engaged volunteers and we want to provide as much support to them as possible. Rachel’s knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for people and horticulture are perfect for this job.”
“Horticulture is a work of art and heart,” noted Rachel. “I am consistently amazed by the work that is being done by the Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists throughout Fulton, Mason, Tazewell, and Peoria counties. It is such a gift to witness them all!
“One of the projects areas I hope to help expand and support is the network of school gardens through the communities in our counties.”
Since her first day on the job in February, Rachel has enjoyed working with the Gardeners’ BIG Day planning committee, writing the Green Connections and Conservation@Home newsletters, meeting the volunteers, and supporting Nicole with the variety of horticulture education that she does.
Rachel is a native of Pekin. She earned her associate degree at Illinois Central College and bachelor and master degrees at Illinois State University. Outside of the office, she can be found appreciating time with her family and friends, adoring plants and animals, working on the cottage garden of her dreams, or upkeeping her vintage home.
University of Illinois Extension develops educational programs, extends knowledge, and builds partnerships to support people, communities, and their environments as part of the state's land-grant institution. Extension serves as the leading public outreach effort for University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences in all 102 Illinois counties through a network of 27 multi-county units and over 700 staff statewide. Extension’s mission is responsive to eight strategic priorities — community, economy, environment, food and agriculture, health, partnerships, technology and discovery, and workforce excellence — that are served through six program areas — 4-H youth development, agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, family and consumer science, integrated health disparities, and natural resources, environment, and energy.