Foodie. Sports fan. Bachelor. College counselor. All are titles that could be used to describe one of Jesuit’s newest faculty members, Mr. Matt Shoemaker.
Mr. Shoemaker, or “Shoe” as some students like to call him, grew up in the town of Decatur, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. He was raised with two sisters, and is part of a large extended family; his dad was one of seven, and his mom was one of five, each sibling having at least three kids. “We were the Ackels of Atlanta,” Shoemaker jokes.
A few childhood moments that stood out for Shoemaker were having a glass aquarium fall on his head, seeing the Atlanta Braves win the World Series after going from “worst-to-first,” and receiving a Nintendo for Christmas.
Although Mr. Shoemaker played baseball, basketball, and other sports as a kid, he admits that he’s “definitely inclined to be more of a mathlete than an athlete. I love sports but other hobbies for me are that I’m a big board gamer and player of physical games.”
Mr. Shoemaker attended parochial school from kindergarten to high school, before leaving for Spring Hill College, a Jesuit institution in Mobile, Alabama. Majoring in history and philosophy, he planned to be a lawyer. However, he explains that he “woke up about a month before graduation and realized I didn’t want to be a lawyer, which was kind of a scary thing at the age of 22.” His whole life was “turned around.”
Immediately, Shoemaker enrolled in a masters program in education at Spring Hill and got a job to pay for grad school. However, it was soon obvious that he was was “not meant to be in the classroom environment as a traditional 6-period-a-day teacher.” Withdrawing from the masters program after finishing the first semester, Shoemaker went home to Atlanta and found a job installing security systems.
“I realized I had a natural knack for sales, and was always good with my hands,” said Shoemaker. He started opening new branches, which allowed him to live in Florida, New York, and California. It took him several years to realize that he “wasn’t meant to be in sales” because “the heart just wasn’t there.” He explained, “Sales wasn’t my mentality. It wasn’t my forte. I didn’t love what I was doing. I’m not a money-driven person, that’s not my MO.”
Shoemaker moved back to Mobile to get a fresh start, re-enrolling in a masters program of education. He was back at school but it “just wasn’t there and clicking.” All throughout his early professional career, Shoemaker kept dabbling with the idea that he was “supposed to be in a high school environment.” One day, as he was walking out of class, he ran into an old friend who asked him if he would like to interview for an admissions job. Shoemaker accepted, and after getting the job he “knew immediately that [he] was working with the right demographic of students.”
So how did Mr. Shoemaker end up at Jesuit? Well, after working with students at Jesuit throughout his time as an admissions counselor at Spring Hill, he was able to develop relationships with former Jesuit college counselor Mr. Chris Blackwell, senior counselor Mr. Jack Fitzsimmons, and administrator Mrs. Rita Miller. After Mr. Blackwell left, Mr. Shoemaker was informed of the open position and was asked if he would be interested in possibly switching sides from college to high school.
Shoemaker noted that it was a “no brainer. I was like, ‘Absolutely, if I’m given the opportunity to work [at Jesuit] than I’ll definitely will.’ And I did. I consider myself lucky to be able to come to this environment and do this. The opportunity was there and it was just the right thing to do.”
Mr. Oglesby, Director of Counseling at Jesuit, explained that he chose Mr. Shoemaker to be his new assistant because of “his intelligence, his energy, his compassion for students, his wide knowledge, and the fact that he likes sports and trivia and board games and many of the things that adolescent males like.”
Mr. Shoemaker will be helping students with their essays, applications, financial aid, and decision making process. “I have read thousands and thousands and thousands of applications, of essays, of recommendation letters,” he noted. “I got to speak with a variety of students from a variety of backgrounds, whether that be academically, financially, geographically. It’s given me a unique perspective to really have some insight into what [the students] are going through and the decision process. At the same time, I know what it’s like on the other side. I was in a unique position at Spring Hill to be able to see what the results of this process are and to watch some former [Jesuit students] transition to the college level and see how this [Jesuit] education has served them at the next level. I think that that experience has really prepared me with a general knowledge of how the admissions process works and how to help guide [the students] through this and see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
His associate Mr. Oglesby asserted, “Because I’m almost 70 years old, I definitely [see myself as a mentor] to Mr. Shoemaker.” Shoemaker similarly sees their relationship as an opportunity for mentoring, calling Oglesby a “legend. I’m very lucky to have him. I have not been in admissions long enough. I have experience, but he has knowledge. I am just trying to be a sponge and learn as much from him as I can. I’m very lucky to have him here as a friend and as a mentor.”
Oglesby added that the student response to Shoemaker has been “overwhelmingly positive. You see him interacting daily with students…all over the building. He goes to the football games, he goes to many events, he greets people at prayer services, he greets them afterwards. He does exactly all the things I explained to him that he needed to do.”
So far, students have only rave reviews for Mr. Shoemaker. “I love Mr. Shoemaker!” exclaimed Chris Ayres ’15. “It feels like he’s been at Jesuit for years! He’s always down to chill and help us get through senior year which is really awesome!”
Similarly, senior Zach Schutze ’15 praised Mr. Shoemaker as “a fantastic college counselor having already immersed himself into the Jesuit community as if he has been working here for years. He is amiable, easy to talk to, and always has an interesting, hilarious story to tell. I’ve noticed that he really takes his job seriously and he enjoys it too, demonstrating what a wonderful job he will do as the new college counselor.”
Shoemaker had one word to describe his time at Jesuit so far: “incredible.” “This can be an intimidating place to join because so many of the faculty are alumni of the school and [Jesuit] guys have this unique bond with each other,” he continued, “but [everyone] has made me feel…so blessed” to be here.
Aside from work, Mr. Shoemaker has a variety of other interests, including a love of food. A food connoisseur since birth, he has always been an adventurous eater. “There’s nothing I won’t try once,” he promised. Although he has only been in Dallas for a few months, he has already found some “delicious” eateries in the Design District and discovered a guilty pleasure in In-N-Out Burger.
In addition to dining, Mr. Shoemaker also has a passion for sports. He’ll cheer for “any Atlanta sports team,” whether it be the Georgia Bulldogs, Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Falcons, or Winnipeg Jets (previously the Atlanta Thrashers).
Though he admits that he’s not a huge movie guy, Mr. Shoemaker expresses his appreciation of the TV shows Cheers, Burn Notice, and sitcoms in general.
Overall, Mr. Shoemaker is already very much appreciated at Jesuit, by students, by fellow counselors, by parents. At the same time, he has thoroughly appreciated Jesuit and “the environment in general.” He explained that “this is a very unique place—it’s awesomely unique. That’s probably what surprised me most. I saw it from the outside but actually getting to experience the freedom and watching how the school from administration to staff to everyone in between nurture and provide an environment that allows [students] to grow is unique to this school and it’s awesome to be a part of and get to watch it all in action.”
When asked about Mr. Shoemaker’s personality, Jason Joy ’15 spoke for all Jesuit seniors: “Shoemaker is one classy dude.”
