Graduation Year: 1984 (as Mattiuzzo)
Major: English Education
Current Position: Author/Speaker/Podcaster
City and State: Lubec, Maine
Tell us about your career and what you do now. After 32 years in public and private schools in the U.S. and China, I have retired from the high school classroom where I realized my Evangel dream of becoming an English teacher. I now tutor online internationally, and run my ministry, Victorious Anyway! as an author, speaker, and podcaster! In these new roles I am still living the principles taught at Evangel as I live my faith working in the world.
What is your favorite memory from Evangel? Easy. Essential Christianity class. Hope you still put freshman through that gauntlet of building their own faith from the ground up. I will never forget how those ethical questions shook me helped me articulate clearly exactly what I believed and why. I was joyous when 3 of my 8 children experienced that course as well!
How did Evangel help you identify/develop your calling/How did your experience at Evangel prepare you for life after graduation? Evangel gave two important career foundations: the knowledge and methodologies of teaching and the strengthening of my faith through knowledge of the Bible. I graduated feeling competent in both and oh, how I would need that. I successfully lived my faith as a public school teacher which is a balancing act in a secular, HIPPA law, ever-scrutinized career.
What advice would you give a current student preparing for the workforce?
Grab all the content knowledge you can from your courses; listen to your professors. Use your campus time to also build your faith; you will need it out there. And, truth be told, “out there” needs you, son and daughter of God.
What would you look for if you were in a position to hire new graduates from Evangel? I would expect integrity. I would expect strong moral character. Skills can be taught, but integrity and character must exist within a person. Your experience at Evangel offers many opportunities in classwork, chapel, service projects, godly professors, and godly peers to strengthen your faith. Don’t miss that. It will sustain you as you work your calling in an often-hostile world.