For Matthew Mast, nothing beats the emotion he experiences when those he teaches understand what he is explaining.
Whether he’s helping elementary and middle school students prepare for standardized tests or instructing novice swimmers as young as 2 or as old as 50, it is exciting to make a difference.
“It’s like getting a huge reward,” Mast said. “It’s like you just did something crazy for them that they are going to take with them for the rest of their lives.”
Mast is channeling that inspiration as a freshman at George Mason University, where he is majoring in mathematics in a five-year accelerated master’s program with the goal of becoming a teacher. His second major, to satisfy his love of the outdoors and sports, is recreation management with a concentration in parks and outdoor recreation.
In Mast’s perfect world, he would teach math outdoors.
“The problem solving is what I like,” he said of mathematics. “In English, the rule is always a comma between this word and that word. It’s not that way in math. There are many ways to do it. You need to figure things out.”
Already having his career planned out allowed him to put it into motion. While at Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, Va., he participated in the future-teacher program Growing Our Own, which included tutoring elementary school students.
Being a swimming instructor for Prince William County Parks and Recreation also helped hone Mast’s teaching skills.
“At first it was hard for me to get my point across, but after a while I began to pick up on what kids like,” he said. “For swimming, a lot of times you have to show them what’s going to happen. In math, it’s the same. You just walk somebody through it.”
“He’s always been good at sorting things out,” Mast’s father, Josh, said of his oldest. “I joke at him, ‘You’re the one I never have to check up on.’ He’s very mature.”
Brenda Wiggins, associate professor in the recreation management program in George Mason’s College of Education and Human Development, agreed.
“For an incoming freshman to already have such specific career goals and a graduate plan is impressive,” she said. “I have no doubt Matthew will be an excellent student and reflect positively on George Mason University.”