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Good choice, good result

Project CDA graduate Matthew Horner is counting down the days. Horner has lived on his own and worked full time as a chef during his time at the school. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)
Noah Buntain Correspondent
Project CDA graduate Matthew Horner is counting down the days. Horner has lived on his own and worked full time as a chef during his time at the school. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)

Matthew Horner had hit rock bottom. At 16, the Coeur d’Alene native had dropped out of Lake City High School and was homeless. He’d made some bad choices and ran afoul of the law. He knew he had to make a change.

The change started by moving in with a longtime family friend and enrolling with Project CDA, an alternative high school that transforms struggling middle and high school students into successful graduates.

“Project (CDA) is a really nice school. It’s by far the best school in this area,” Horner said. “It gets a bad rap. People think it’s just a school for dropouts, but I’ve seen it help so many people.

“I was two years behind and I graduated a semester early.”

Horner, now 19, said he was mostly a D and F student while at Lake City, but he became an A and B student and graduated in January. He credits the school’s small class sizes and the sense of community that created a positive learning environment.

“The attitude’s a lot more mellow,” Horner said. “The teachers and even the principal ask the seniors to look out for everyone. It’s not like everyone likes each other, but we all get along. It makes it a lot more comfortable.”

While Horner spent his days plowing through his classes, he spent every night behind the hot stoves at Crickets.

“I worked the night shift from five to midnight, so there wasn’t a lot of sleep,” he said. “I was living out at Rathdrum. I had to get up at seven to make it to school.”

Horner said the cooking job appeals to his sense of order and helps him keep focused. He often feels better at the end of a shift than he did when he entered the kitchen. Before he started cooking, he thought about joining the Marines, but now he feels he’s found a rewarding profession that always offers something new to learn.

“I’ll probably end up staying a cook and just move up to higher things,” Horner said. “I want to learn a wide variety of cultures and types of foods.”

In his free time, Horner watches movies and goes for long, winding bike rides. He rides wherever his mood takes him, keeping it leisurely.

“I go all over town. I went down to Higgens Point the other day. I rode from Coeur d’Alene to Post Falls once,” Horner said. “I just enjoy finding a trail and taking a ride on a nice day.”

While he doesn’t think of himself as an example to others, Horner said he did convince a friend of his who had dropped out of school to go back, too. Jeri Midgley, the school counselor at Project CDA , called Horner the “epitome of Project CDA’s students.”

“He is independent, desires an education enough to work for it in spite of life’s difficulties and works hard for what he wants out of life,” Midgley added.

Now that he’s done with school, Horner said he will keep on working as a chef. He’d like to work in different restaurants – Bonsai Bistro and Tito’s top his list – but he feels satisfied with how things have turned out. It’s a lesson that others in his situation can learn from.

“Don’t give up. Keep with it,” Horner said by way of advice. “If you really think you’ve hit rock bottom, that’s the time to change and make a difference in your life.”