Rachel Handlin – Pratt Institute
2021
Rachel is a five-time Rockin’ Recipient who graduated in 2020 from California Institute for the Arts with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography. This fall, she begins a graduate program in photography at Pratt Institute, which makes her the very first Ruby’s Rainbow Rockin’ Recipient to receive a scholarship to use in pursuing a Master’s degree!
At CalArts, Rachel founded the View Camera Club, and enjoyed hosting meetings and exhibitions. In her final year of college, she served as a TA for the Print & Digital Media class. She loves dancing, and has taken classes in African and Tahitian dance as well as ballet, contemporary and hula dancing.
Rachel’s photography work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in California and New York. She hopes her educational career will help other young people with Down syndrome to get a good education. She is also passionate about advocating for unborn babies with Down syndrome, and wants her life, educational career and body of work to speak for the importance of embracing a Down syndrome diagnosis instead of regarding it with fear.
Rachel, we are so very proud of you, and we believe in you. You are a trailblazer who has already done so much for the Down syndrome community, and we can’t wait to see you rock it through grad school!
