For many years, history has been written and packaged for teaching on the academic level. From World War II to the Civil Rights Movement, history has been recorded for those who are eager to learn, and even more for those who are dedicated enough to teach.

Mr. Matthew Helm, a history teacher in Prior Lake High School uses this information of the past to teach students history of the country they live in. He had been interested in history even in his teenage years. Throughout his life before teaching, he was in the Marines, deployed in Iraq, and later went to college. During his teaching career, he’s taken on a vast array of different teaching roles.

Since he was young, Mr. Helm always knew he would end up joining the military for his first few years of real adult life. He ended up doing just that by joining the Marine Corps.

Mr. Helm’s family was composed of several people who served in the military. His dad was in the Air Force and his uncle served in Vietnam.  These connections helped the idea of military service become reality. The overall presence of military appreciation in his life also brought the idea to light.

“That was also sort of my obligation to those guys who did those things so I could live in a free country,” Helm said. “That was one of the pushes for me to join the service.”

He was stationed in Washington state at a nuclear base and in 29 Palms, California for his first few years, which was far away from his home state of South Dakota. Although being in a military position can often bring frightening moments, it can also prove to be a defining event of one’s life.

“For me, it was sort of a wake-up call that you’re an adult now,” Mr. Helm said. “You may not feel like an adult, but when you are making a will at like 20 because you’re being deployed overseas, it gets real really quick.”

He was later part of the infantry, and during his service in the infantry, Mr. Helm was sent into Iraq for the invasion. Going from a rural town to being deployed all within mere years was a culture shock that he had to overcome quickly. 

During his deployment, most of his time was spent on peacekeeping, doing combat patrols, or being away from action activities. During his downtime, he enjoyed playing cribbage with friends or combat training. The living conditions weren’t the best with no running water among other things.

“A lot of people say war is like 5% insane fear and 95% of waiting, and that was kind of emblematic of that time,” Helm said.

After returning home and taking a few months at home, Mr. Helm went to college. He was originally interested in psychology due to the traumatic effect of war, but he ended up opting for teaching, specifically history due to a medieval history class he took in his undergraduate years.

Mr. Helm has taught in many different places throughout his teaching career, beginning with college-level courses in his home state. Mr. Helm took classes for certification to teach high school while working at the college.

After he finished his certification, Mr. Helm taught in the Sioux reservation for a year where he taught 3rd-8th graders Social Studies and English.

“When I taught on the reservation, it was very fulfilling in the sense that the kids were super receptive and they just needed sort of a structural system in their life,” Helm said.

Although he was originally tasked with teaching 6th-8th graders every subject, he ended up trading the other subjects involved and teaching more years of social studies and English instead because that’s what his strengths were.

After sharing some details about Mr. Helm’s teaching past with some current students, Mario Godoy-Delgadillo, a junior in Mr. Helm’s US History class said, “I think that was great. I hope he does something like that again in the future because he could help a lot of people that way.”

After his year teaching on a reservation, he was offered a job at Prior Lake High School, which he accepted. He teaches US History and occasionally Global Studies among other history courses. He also teaches the new College-in-the-Schools US History class that he helped set up with his Social Studies colleague, Mr. Mestnik.

The idea for a CIS class originally came from Mr. Mestnik. It began as a concept for an alternative to Advanced Placement. Mr. Helm was asked if he wanted to assist with its creation, which he agreed to do. 

CIS as a class is directly structured to meet the University of Minnesota’s requirements, having most of its curriculum based on a textbook from the university and requiring approval from their administration as well.

“I would recommend this class for students that aren’t afraid of a college-level class,” Mr. Helm said. “The rigor is there, the expectation is on par with the University of Minnesota, and the syllabus has to be approved by the coordinating instructor.”

Regardless of the level, Mr. Helm’s US History classes aim to encapsulate the history of America and make history digestible for students willing to learn.

“It’s very clear that he actually cares about the material he’s teaching,” Mario said. “He tries to have genuine conversations with people instead of having an ‘I feed you things, go do homework’ attitude.”

Through his life experience, Mr. Helm went from a high school student, to a Marine, and all the way to an experienced teacher. He has taught in many different places throughout his career, all of which he enjoyed.

Although Helm hadn’t originally intended to become a history teacher specifically, he had been interested in history even in high school. Mr. Helm regards his high school history teacher as one of his inspirations — along with Abraham Lincoln.

“There was no lightswitch moment, and I’m sure some of my colleagues are like ‘oh yeah ever since I taught my little sister to braid her hair I wanted to be a teacher,’” Helm said. “I never had that moment, but I don’t think you necessarily need that moment to enjoy what you do, and I enjoy this. I really do.”