Former Warren student returns to Helena after Olympic run

Konnor Ralph walked back into Warren Elementary, this time as an Olympian, and spent the day talking with more than 200 students about a path that started on Helena snow and ended in Milano Cortina, Italy. The visit gave Warren kids a direct look at what it takes to leave a small Montana city, compete at the highest level, and still come back tied to the people and places that helped build that career.

Ralph was joined by Warren alums Colter Petre and Sean Herrin, who were part of the MSU Bobcats national championship team. Together, the three visited classrooms, answered questions and signed a custom poster made by Petre’s father, turning a school stop into a hands-on lesson in what local achievement can look like. For students, the message was not just that an Olympian had been in the building, but that he had once been a child in the same hallways.

That local connection has been part of Ralph’s story from the beginning. He first clicked into skis at age 2 and moved to Helena a year later. He later found his footing at Great Divide, where he developed the terrain-park skills that carried him onto Team USA. KTVH reported in 2021 that he became the first Queen City of the Rockies athlete to join the U.S. ski team since Roger Little in 1972, a mark that underscored how rare his rise was for Helena.

At Warren, Ralph said returning home makes things feel like they “slow down,” and he told students he still remembers the school’s motto: “be kind, be honest, be safe, be respectful, and be responsible.” Rachel O’Brian, his first-grade teacher, said seeing him return meant a lot because he was “a kid come from our community and end up on TV and doing something that the whole world knows who he is now,” adding that he came from “little Helena, Montana.” Ralph’s mother, Chris, a former Warren kindergarten teacher, also reconnected with former students during the visit.

The homecoming came after Ralph’s first Winter Olympics run, where he finished fifth in men’s freeski big air with a combined score of 178.00 and ninth in men’s freeski slopestyle. Helena’s big-air watch party at Ten Mile Creek Brewery drew nearly 100 fans at one point, and a welcome-back party at the brewery was scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. Ralph has also returned to Great Divide to put on clinics for kids, keeping his Olympic profile linked to the local ski hill that helped launch it.