Matthew Matola

ALA 250 Peer Facilitator & ITC Committee Member

Matthew is a sophomore planning on majoring in Political Science or Public Policy with a minor in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences. In high school Matthew served as a student representative to the Royal Oak Board of Education which sparked his interest in pursuing a career in local public service. He also has experience in youth environmental education at the Detroit Zoo and the Huron River Watershed Council, and has taken part in multiple field work projects surveying native rodent species, removing invasive plants, monitoring Huron River mussel populations, and more.

Within optiMize Matthew helps develops the curriculum of and facilitate student discussion in the ALA 250 Critical Issues in Climate and Critical Issues in Education classes. Matthew took these classes as a freshman and thinks they are a great opportunity to take a multi-disciplinary perspective on the systems of environmental change and higher education that effect every student's life on a daily basis. Each class begins with a guest lecturer from a different subject area expert from within the University, allowing students to hear a variety of viewpoints and share their own thoughts in turn.