Teen realizing importance of education
Nineteen-year-old Matt Gonzales knows what it means to work hard. During his final year at New Vision High School in Post Falls, Gonzales worked approximately 40 hours a week at the front desk at Howard Johnson’s in addition to studying hard to complete the final classes he needed to graduate in June.
Gonzales admits it hasn’t been an easy road, but he is grateful for the opportunity to attend a school which allows him to work at his own pace.
“I am a slower writer and reader and so this is a good place,” Gonzales said of the alternative school, which encourages independent study and offers small class sizes. “There are only 12 to 16 kids in a class. That is the best thing about this school. You get more one-on-one and you actually learn stuff.”
In addition to the classes, he enjoyed some of the other activities that New Vision High School offered, such as the greenhouse, where the students raise, care for and sell plants.
“The money then goes back to buy new plants and back to the school,” said Gonzales.
Looking back, he said he wished he had worked harder in the early years of high school so he could have graduated with his peers. But after 4 1/2 years at New Vision High School, he realizes the important thing is he didn’t give up and he now looks forward to attending North Idaho College in the fall, where he plans to study radiology.
“I know I want to work in a hospital, but I cannot take blood. I faint easily,” said Gonzales, who added that his own brother has sent him to the hospital a time or two. “It was just kids growing up.”
He says his mother, a nurse at Kootenai Medical Center, has been an inspiration to him. During his high school years, he has learned the importance of studying and is not planning to rush through his college courses.
“I would like to get an A in each class and learn all I can so I can do a better job,” Gonzales said.
He has a love of sports, especially boxing. He started boxing about a year ago and was instantly hooked. He currently has an injured shoulder and is unable to box, but he hopes to get back to it soon. Before he was injured, Gonzales said he would work out at least three times a week.
“That’s what I love to do,” said Gonzales.
He also enjoys snowboarding and has frequently traveled to Mount Hood in Oregon to board, and has his sights set on traveling to Whistler, B.C., to snowboard next year.
“I’ve been snowboarding since I was about 10 or 12 years old and have skied all my life,” Gonzales said.
But his hard-earned money also goes for things other than just snowboarding and boxing. He said it is his dream to one day own a motorcycle and he is currently saving for one.
When Gonzales does have spare time, he says he is never bored thanks to all his hobbies. He enjoys working on cars with his friends and working out. But that spare time does not come too often. In the summertime Gonzales says he picks up more jobs and usually ends up working more than 40 hours each week.
“I just like money,” said Gonzales. “But I realize it’s easier if you have the education. It is education that is going to get you where you want to be.”