Matthew is a 15-year-old sophomore at Stansbury High School. He has maintained a 3.97 GPA while taking AP and honors courses, which are part of his future goals of earning an Honors Diploma and 4 CTE Pathways. He’s also a member of the National Honor Society and Stansbury High’s Concert Choir.
During the school year, Matthew stays busy after hours by working as a Student Sweeper at Stansbury Park Elementary, mowing lawns for 8-10 households during the warmer months, and shoveling snow around the neighborhood in the winter months. His strong work ethic stems from working on his grandpa’s farm during the summer and helping his dad complete household and mechanical projects year-round.
For the past 5 years, Matthew has held various church youth group leadership positions. He has actively helped carry out and participated in multiple church and community service projects during that time.
Matthew’s hobbies include woodworking, 3D designing and printing, remote control vehicles, playing pickleball, mountain biking, engineering, and fixing things.
After high school, Matthew plans to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Upon returning, he plans to study Mechanical Engineering at Utah State University.
Being nominated for:
Matthew is the first to go and help anyone needing service in the community. Just yesterday (May 30), he was informed of some graffiti that had been left on a shed on our church property and he went to help scrub it off. From there, he went to mow a neighbor’s lawn, brought the mower home and ate dinner, then went back to help a new family moving in haul furniture. He taught our new neighbor across the street how to mow his lawn (the neighbor is a refugee from the Ivory Coast who has never had a lawn before), has weeded a community area that gets lots of weeds, and done yardwork with no expectation of money for many, many people. This kid is an all-star! (Response sent in May 31, 2023)
Other things he’s done recently:
Our family signed up to help with the 9/11 Day of Service and was assigned Village Boulevard from stallion way to the highway 36. When we finished picking up trash on both sides of the street, Matthew came back with his trimmer and spent a couple more hours trimming overgrown grass and weeds along the curbing to make it look good.
Really, anytime he’s asked to help with something or someone, Matthew is there — he’s helped people move furniture, unloaded or loaded U-hauls, voluntarily done yardwork, and recently helped our refugee neighbors winterize their sprinklers.
