Matt was on his high school football and track and field teams, but his real love was the outdoor extreme sports including backcountry skiing, mountain biking, and most of all whitewater kayaking. After graduation from the University of Idaho with a B.S. in Civil Engineering he worked as a Project Engineer in Seattle, Washington and Talent, Oregon. On July 9th, 2009 Matt and two friends went for a mountain bike ride on Mt. Ashland on a trail he had ridden many times before. After looking at a familiar jump that had been modified he decided to try it. The next thing Matt knew he was in the critical care unit and a doctor was drilling a screw into the side of his skull. A C5 ASIA A spinal cord injury was the diagnosis. After a year and a half at Project Walk he has made tremendous progress and is able to use a manual wheelchair. Matt is passionate about rivers from years of kayaking and a M.E. degree in Water Resources will give him the skills necessary to follow his passion off the river, while meeting personal and professional goals.