Taking the Honor to Highlight His Peers  

It’s photoshoot time.  

Stephen Paulson, ’11, is standing in the middle of the hallway at Greeley Central High School, smiling toward UNC’s photographer. He was just awarded the 2026 Colorado Teacher of the Year award from the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), and his students exhibit exactly why.  

Multiple times, Paulson is met with high-fives, fist bumps and smiles while he poses for the camera. It’s clear his students look up to and respect him, and this is likely due to Paulson’s philosophy when he steps into the classroom.  

“My goal is to get as many kids as I possibly can into a better situation in their lives than when they first met me,” Paulson said.  

Paulson wants to set his students up for success. In general, this means giving his students the skills, resources and abilities so that when they encounter the next hard class or, eventually, higher education, they are ready. What that looks like, he says, is specific to each individual student.  

“The most important part is understanding the circumstances that most of the students are in,” Paulson said. “The majority of our school is considered free and reduced or poverty level, and every kid in my class is first generation. So, I think the most rewarding piece is helping them break that cycle of poverty and helping them access a system that they don’t know how to navigate.”  

The class Paulson is referring to is his Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) class, which is a four-year elective that teaches essential college and career readiness skills. He has been teaching this course alongside social studies and Advanced Placement (AP)courses since 2012. 

“I believe that every kid should leave high school with the choice of going to a four-year, two-year or a trade school,” Paulson said.   

This belief stems directly from his students. They express to Paulson what they want to do as a career, and Paulson is frank — “Nine out of 10 things they say are not going to get achieved with a high school degree or diploma. It’s just not going to happen.”  

But unlike a test, paper or group project, Paulson begins this journey to higher education by simply putting the option out there.  

“The power of a person’s mentality is monumental,” Paulson said. “If you’ve convinced yourself that you can’t do something, then you won’t do it. But if you can convince someone that they can do something, it’s amazing what they’re willing to do, especially high school students.”  

Paulson took this a step further last year and came up with a way to give his AVID students a hands-on experience in their chosen career aspirations. He brought in members from the Greeley community to mentor his students.   

The idea came from one of his former students, Eddie Ramirez, ’24, one of many who have now graduated from UNC, who gave Paulson feedback on his sophomore career research project. Paulson was having the 15-year-olds write a research paper on what they would do in their dream career and then present it in a posterboard-style presentation. Reflecting on how long he has been grading these presentations, he asked Ramirez what he took away from the project. His response was, “It was fine. I learned some things, but it would be nice if it were more real.”  

So, Paulson took to Facebook, leaning on his network of Weld County community members he’s made relationships with over the past 18 years. He asked them to mentor his 93 students and listed the careers they were interested in.  

“I was blown away by the response,” Paulson said. “We were able to match every single student with a person here in Greeley with only a few having to meet virtually.”  

The post garnered 93 comments and 38 shares with dentists, doctors, public defenders, real estate agents, nurses and veterinarians all stepping up to show Paulson’s students what a day in their career would look like.

The rumor is that teachers don’t make much, but we do make a difference and that is more powerful than the dollar.” – Stephen Paulson, ’11

Leslie Galindo-Salazar was one of the real-world professionals who worked with three Greeley Central students interested in her role as a social worker. She gave the students a tour of the Weld County Department of Human Services campus and provided behind-the-scenes access to the Young Adult Job Fair.  

“The experience left a lasting impression on me,” Galindo-Salazar said. “I hope one day to see those three students as my colleagues, as they demonstrated both knowledge of their career aspirations and professionalism in conducting interviews. It was clear that Mr. Paulson had taken the time to prepare them thoroughly before sending them into the community to job shadow.”  

This wasn’t the first time Galindo-Salazar had experienced Paulson’s impact. She actually had her three kids switch high schools to attend Greeley Central High School so that they could learn under Paulson’s guidance.  

“I have a family member who works in the district as a counselor, and she frequently spoke about Mr. Paulson and believed his teaching style would be an excellent match for my children’s learning needs,” Galindo-Salazar said.   

So, when open enrollment began for the 2024-25 school year, Galindo-Salazar submitted applications for her two sophomores and freshman to enroll at Greeley Central High School and was thrilled to learn they had been accepted. There was one little glitch, though.  

“When I got my son’s class schedule in August, we noticed Mr. Paulson was not listed,” Galindo-Salazar said. “That same day, I emailed to ask whether he taught sophomore AVID, and at 7:15 p.m. Mr. Paulson responded with:  

“Thank you for your email! We are so excited that you all came to Greeley Central! I will talk with the office about his schedule. I do teach 10th grade AVID and I’d love to have him in my class. Please give me until tomorrow afternoon to work on it.”  

“True to his word, the very next day my son’s schedule was updated to include Mr. Paulson’s class,” Galindo-Salazar said. “All of this marked the beginning of a life-changing experience for our family.”  

This is just one of many examples of the legacy Paulson has created in Greeley.  

Back to the career mentor project.  

“I had a student being mentored by someone at the Greeley-Weld County Airport and flew on a plane to Akron, Colorado,” Paulson said. “We had kids go to the courthouse and sit in on civil trials, some got to teach several lessons to elementary students, so there were a lot of cool things that came out of it, and it’s thanks to the efforts of the people in the community willing to do it.”  

This is why winning the Colorado Teacher of the Year award was important to Paulson. He didn’t apply to put the spotlight on himself; he actually says his wife, who teaches high school in Longmont, is the best teacher in his household. But he wanted to highlight the work his colleagues are doing, the outstanding efforts of his students and the Greeley community as a whole for being award-worthy in the education industry. Paulson is the first Greeley-Evans School District 6 teacher to claim the title.  

“I think our city, our community, our school district sometimes gets a bad rap or gets looked down upon by other high schools, other districts and other communities, and that has always bugged me,” Paulson said. “So, I felt this obligation to fill out the application for everyone else. I just wish now the attention would go to everyone else, not just me.”  

Paulson is, however, certainly getting noticed. His school and the CDE announced his selection as Colorado Teacher of the Year — chosen from 419 applicants — during a school assembly in the gymnasium last October. He was met with astounding applause from his colleagues and students.   

It’s also hard not to stick out with a camera crew taking pictures of him at work.  

But Paulson says he will take on this spotlight, for now, as long as Greeley-Evans District 6 and the community as a whole — including all the business professionals who took time to better the lives of his high school students — are also acknowledged.  

“Our mission is to empower the next generation, and that’s what we’re doing,” Paulson said. “We help to open their eyes and hearts to something more than they thought they could achieve. The rumor is that teachers don’t make much, but we do make a difference and that is more powerful than the dollar.”