Matt grew up in Harris County, Georgia, and music found him early. An elementary school music teacher heard something in him and pointed him toward the Columbus Boys Choir, where he rose to head chorister. At Harris County High School he played first-chair trumpet in the school band — and around fifteen, he picked up a guitar and never really set it down.
He started writing his own songs on that guitar, moved to Atlanta, and formed The Dirty Souls — the rock band he fronted as singer and songwriter for the rest of his life. The band won the songwriter showcase at their very first show and spent years playing Atlanta's stages, recording an EP and a collection of songs his family and bandmates are still bringing into the world.
Offstage, Matt taught. For years he gave kids private music lessons, ran summer camps, and put on recitals — and what his students remember isn't just the chords. He had a way of making a nervous kid believe the stage belonged to them. Parents watched shy children walk out of his lessons taller than they walked in. Teaching wasn't a side job for Matt; it was the same gift as the songwriting, pointed at someone else.
Matt passed away in September 2016. He was a singer, a guitarist, a son, a brother, an uncle, and a friend — and a teacher whose students still carry what he gave them.
This scholarship exists so that gift keeps moving: from Matt, to one graduating Harris County senior at a time, for as long as his family can keep it going.