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.