Matthew Smith Email & Phone Number

All my life I have been a competitive athlete. The winning attitude has been instilled in me since the time I was able to pick up a baseball or basketball. I grew up traveling the country playing baseball. I played against people of all walks of life from all over the Earth. Upon graduation of high school, I was offered a scholarship to play baseball at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. I accepted this offer to continue pursuing my dream. After playing for two years I came to the conclusion that I was ready to branch out and take my competitive edge to the real world and that baseball was not my dream.In 2015, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. I was motivated, hungry, and I took in all the information I could. After I attended boot camp at MCRD San Diego, I was shipped to SOI West, Infantry Training Battalion. Upon completion of this school, I was stationed in Twentynine Palms, California. In the Spring of 2017, I was shipped to Al Taqqadum Airbase, Al Anbar Province, Iraq for my first tour. When we returned, I immediately became a team leader and was in charge of three other Marines as well. This is where I learned the dynamics of small unit leadership, mentoring, and teaching. After two years of honing my craft, I was put into the billet of squad leader. This is where I was in charge of a squad made up of twelve Marines or three fire teams. As a squad leader I had to succeed, no matter what the situation was. But, I will be honest, this is where I learned the most. I learned how to overcome adversity. I learned how to properly assess risks. I became more responsible, more mature, and more focused. Because of this job I understand that it is all about how I react to situations, because in this job I had my whole squads’ eyes on me. I knew that if I failed, I had to learn and then take a positive step forward. This is what I can bring to the table. I will lead, teach, mentor, and learn. If I fail, I will learn from my failures and it will only make me that much better as an employee.Upon being discharged from the Marine Corps I moved back to the Dallas-Ft Worth area. I enrolled at the University of North Texas, Fall Semester 2020; and graduated August 13, 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and a minor in Psychology.