CASPER — Kelly Walsh High School history teacher Paula Volker heads back to class this month on her mission to make the past relevant for sophomores through seniors.
That can be a tall order.
But the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, an organization that promotes the study and preservation of historical documents, just gave her its vote of confidence, naming her Wyoming’s History Teacher of the Year.
Whether it is analyzing the Voting Rights Act and tying it to a Casper connection or looking at news headlines about Kim Jong Un launching another rocket, she tries to find a way to stir up young minds.
“History is so important to understanding what is happening today. You can’t really understand our country without understanding history,” she said. “I tell kids you are not always going to love history, but you are going to learn some amazing skills in critical thinking.”
A teacher in Natrona County school district since 1994, Casper native Volker has been at Kelly Walsh High School since 2013 teaching U.S. History and government classes. She believes using primary sources such as original documents are ways to bring the past into the present and make history relevant.
Voting Rights Assignment
Her teacher of the year honor came by way of a nomination from an anonymous person. Upon discovering that the New York-based institute was considering Volker for the statewide honor, she submitted a unit plan that is part of her advanced placement U.S. Government and Politics class for juniors and seniors. The unit plan focuses on the Voting Rights Act.
“I submitted a unit that I do on voting rights which incorporates all kinds of different documents and learnings of history and political science and brings it into current events,” she said. “(It) also includes some local history here in Casper, because they want to see how you are using some local history and getting kids to interact.”
Volker ties the unit to the national “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals” competition for high school students that focuses on the U.S. Constitution. In addition to studying the Voting Rights Act, students dig into the Supreme Court case of Shelby County versus Holder from 2013 that removed the need for southern states such as Texas and Alabama to get “preclearance” from the federal government before making changes to voting law.
“We looked at the pros and cons of that particular case and we looked at Selma in 1965 and the whole Freedom summer and getting people advocating for people to have the right to vote,” she said. The students also looked at how Casper native the Rev. James Reeb participated in the Selma marches and was killed.
Casper has a mural dedicated to Reeb, and part of Volker’s curriculum involves registering to vote and visiting the mural in downtown Casper.
“It’s just a way for kids to really tie in something is that local,” she said. “They might see that mural and wonder what it really is. I also shared with them a document from the Congressional Record where his eulogy was read on the floor of the House of Representatives.”
Former student Anna Koehmstedt, who graduated in May, called Volker’s U.S. Government and Politics class “enriching, informative, and inspiring.”
“Ms. Volker created in-depth connections between the past, present, and future of politics in America by using Supreme Court cases, first-hand events and primary documents. Her passion for teaching and her depth of knowledge illustrated the importance of exercising civil liberties,” she said. “Coming into an election year, with Ms. Volker’s guidance, I feel involved and educated to thoughtfully participate in democracy.”
Another 2024 graduate, Eleanor Veauthier said the use of orginal documents helped “enrich” her learning and help her “make connections to the current world.”
“One of the most valuable experiences from the class was participating in the We The People competition in which we showcased our knowledge of constitutional principles and analyzed current issues."
Paula Volker, left, with students from her advance placement class in Cheyenne as part of the “We the People” competition. (Courtesy Paula Volker) 
Paula Volker and students at a history competition in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy Paula Volker) 
A mural honoring the Rev. James Reeb in Casper is part of the local link to a Casper story that history teacher Paula Volker uses to engage students studying the Voting Rights Act. Reeb was killed in Selma, Alabama for his advocacy for voting rights. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Making Connections
In addition to Volker’s advanced history class, she said, she teaches a class for sophomores called Modern American Studies that focuses on the history of the United States after World War II.
The class offers her a lot of ways to pull in original sources and documents to spur discussion and interactions with her students.
“That is a really fun class to teach because you can make so many connections to everything that is happening today. We study the Korean War and then we look at North Korea today or we are learning about how the United Nations was set up,” she said. “And then we looked at how the UN responded to Israel this past semester or how NATO was set up after World War II and now there is so much talk about NATO and the Ukraine.”
She has learned that sophomores love to talk about the concepts of privacy and free speech. So, when headlines talk about banning TikTok, that opens up another avenue to engage her charges.
For Volker, her interest in history began at an early age. Growing up in Casper, she said she was always felt a “connection to place.” As a young girl she read historical novels and has always loved history.
Volker’s own interests cover the nation’s founding fathers and early documents as well as the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
While Wyoming history is covered in 9th grade, Volker said she tries to incorporate it into the lessons when she can. One example is the Korematsu v. United States U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II at Wyoming’s Heart Mountain.
While her undergraduate degrees in liberal arts and secondary education and master’s in education are not in history, she said she took several history courses at the University of Wyoming. She still loves to be a history student and plans on taking an upcoming class from the Gilder Lehrman Institute about the Cold War, McCarthyism and its impact on Jews.
‘Proud’ School
Kelly Walsh High School Principal Mike Britt said the school is “incredibly proud” of Volker and the recognition of her by Gilder Lehrman Institute.
"We are grateful for and inspired by outstanding teachers like Paula,” Britt said. “Her passion, professionalism, and dedication to being an extraordinary teacher shape not just her lessons but the very futures of her students. Her positive impact extends far beyond the classroom, igniting curiosity, instilling confidence, and inspiring a lifelong love of learning."
Gilder Lehrman Institute began in 1991 by Richard Gilder and Lewis Lehrman was to create a repository for the nation’s historical documents and promote the knowledge and understanding of American History.
The non-profit organization’s website states it has more than 85,000 documents that are accessible to K-12 teachers and students for free as well as the public for an annual $25 fee.
As Wyoming’s History Teacher of the Year, Volker receives $1,000 and is nominated for a national award which will be decided by a national panel of historians, former winners, and master teachers. The national winner will receive $10,000.
Volker said when she began her career in 1994, the Internet was not available for teachers and bringing original documents and primary sources into the classroom was much more difficult. Now her curriculum is built on foundational material.
“There isn’t anything I do in my classroom that doesn’t involve a primary source,” she said. “That’s really the central guideline of my classrooms.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
