Teacher Bios
Paul Helmken is originally from Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Lawrence University in
Wisconsin with a BA in Psychology. After working in Glacier National Park and Yosemite
National Park, he decided that making a home somewhere in the West was an absolute
necessity. He moved to Durango, Colorado and obtained an elementary teaching certificate
from Fort Lewis College. His first teaching position was in 1997 on the Navajo Indian
reservation. Paul taught there for four years and then moved to Prescott, teaching fifth graders
at Miller Valley School for the next 14 years. He currently is a fifth grade teacher at Granite
Mountain School.