matt stine.

I would have done anything to get sober. In my desperation, I went to lengths that no 22-year-old should have to go in order to get clean. On April 24, 2007, I checked myself into a halfway house that gave me my last chance at sobriety and life. I was ignorant as to how a place like this worked, but I was told that they could help desperate alcoholics and drug addicts, so I was willing to give it a shot. My last shot. The first thirty days inside the house, living with ten or eleven other alcoholics, were lonely at best. As you can imagine there was a strict set of rules, the most enforced one being that all residents must attend one Alcoholics Anonymous meeting every day. My first meeting of A.A. was hard; I wasn’t sure that I was an alcoholic. I was very sure, however, that I didn’t want to be an alcoholic. If you get into the program, you have to get a sponsor who will help take you through the 12 steps. If you actually work the 12 steps, the program promises that you will stay sober. It was, in fact, my only hope.

I was almost seven months sober when I looked at my sponsor and said, “I’ve been thinking, I want to go back to school, but I’m scared.” What he told me I will carry with me for the rest of my life. He said, “Matt, if you want to be a construction worker for the rest of your life because that’s what you want to do, that’s ok. However, if you want to be a teacher, and you are a roofer because you are too scared to go back to school, that’s not ok. Fear is not a good enough reason not to go back to school.” He then told me, “Courage isn’t that absence of fear, it’s taking steps forward in the face of fear.” After he said that, I knew I had to go back to school. What’s worse is that I felt like I had to go back to Taylor, the same school that kicked me out of four years earlier for smoking pot in the dorm. I decided then I would do whatever it took to graduate from TUFW. State school would have been way easier and more convenient, but I had to do this for my family, for the man who invested his time into me to help me get sober, for myself. I had something to prove. I was no longer the same loser that was addicted to every type of chaos, and I wasn’t worthless anymore. 

When I made the call to Bud Hamilton, I figured if there was one man who could help me get back into school, he was that man. Basketball wasn’t the first thing on my mind, but if there was one thing I always wanted to do, it was be a part of a team again, be a part of something special, something I could hold on to for the rest of my life. After a few meetings with the higher ups and me explaining a little bit about my rehabilitation, I was given another shot at school. I was so grateful and excited. At the beginning of January I moved into Ramseyer Hall.

While the basketball team, our amazing season, and fantastic run at a national title will remain forever carved into my mind, it wasn’t the wins or the game of basketball that had an impact on me; it was the people, the experience. I’ll never forget how I felt the second that Andy Overpeck walked into my room to say “hi” to me. He was so big and strong, I felt extremely threatened by him. I didn’t think there was any way that we would ever be friends, or even get along. I don’t remember how it went down, but it wasn’t long before I started to really like Andy. He was someone that made me feel comfortable at TUFW, he made me feel like I could be myself. Andy has a way with making people laugh, making people feel at ease. 

Andy is one example of the impact that TUFW and its people have had on me. It’s no big deal for me to walk up to Andy and say, “You know what I suck at? Being a Christian,” and we can talk about it like men. It’s a blessing to have guys that I respect who are big enough to realize what is and isn’t important in life. Its such a gift to have people in my life who are my age who understand the struggles of a young man who don’t think its silly to want to talk about how to live a life that pleases God. Learning to live right and doing it with other men who are likeminded has had the biggest impact on me. 

I cannot even begin to explain how grateful I am for TUFW and its people. It’s obviously not the name TUFW that makes this place special for me, it’s the love that I felt from its people. TUFW is where I will always belong, even if there is no place for me anymore! The memories I have made here, good and bad, will always remain with me. These same memories shape who I am and who I want to become. TUFW may be closing, but its impact will remain with me for my life. Taylor University Fort Wayne gave me a second chance that no one else would have, and because of that second chance, I have been able to start on the road to my future as a teacher.