The Ghostwriter had the opportunity to sit down and interview senior Matthew Van Houtte for our Student Spotlight series. Read the transcript below for our full interview!
In this interview, Van Houtte talked about many of his interests, including his favorite things to do and his plans for his future. We learn about his involvement in soccer and track, and that he will be going to college in Canada. Van Houtte also mentions his pets, family, and what he likes to do for fun with his friends.
Q: Hi, what’s your name?
A: Matthew Van Houtte.
Q: What grade are you in?
A: I’m a senior.
Q: What are some things you like to do for fun?
A: Play soccer, run track, video games, and I guess I go snowboarding.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about soccer?
A: Just being with my teammates and experiencing fun moments like scoring goals or winning a game.
Q: What position do you play?
A: I play defense mainly, center back.
Q: Do you plan to play soccer in the future?
A: Yeah, I’m probably gonna play club or intramural at my college.
Q: What college are you going to?
A: Bishop’s University in Canada.
Q: What are you majoring in?
A: I’m choosing finance, but I don’t exactly know what I’m gonna finish with.
Q: While you’ve been at WA, what have been your favorite classes to take?
A: I like physics. I like the labs a lot. Some of my English classes have been fun due to the discussions we’ve had. I liked history just because of the topics we learned.
Q: When you’re not at soccer or school, what are some other things you like to do?
A: [I like to] chill at home, maybe too much. [I like] hanging out with friends and going out to eat.
Q: What’s your favorite thing to do with your friends?
A: [I like to] just hang around, practice soccer, go places, like I might go karting with my friends tomorrow.
Q: Are you excited about college?
A: Yeah, I wanna leave WA.
Q: Where are you going again?
A: Bishop’s, in Canada.
Q: So you’re gonna be out of the country.
A: Yeah.
Q: Have you ever been out of the country?
A: Yeah, I was born in Canada.
Q: Do you do a lot of traveling?
A: Yes.
Q: What’s your favorite place you travel to?
A: Probably France.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about France?
A: The food.
Q: Do you have any pets?
A: I have a guinea pig and a cat.
Q: What’s your guinea pig’s name?
A: George.
Q: Do you like animals?
A: Yeah.
Q: Are you excited to go to college?
A: Yes, I am.
Q: What are you most excited about?
A: Probably meeting new people in just a different environment.
Q: While you’re still a senior here, what are you planning to do before you leave?
A: I guess [I plan to do] capstone, and track, and [I plan to] not have to go to school.
Q: What are you doing for your capstone?
A: We’re trying to do fundraising and stuff for the track team because we’re broke.
Q: How are you going to fundraise?
A: We’re gonna try and do a clinic or camp over the weekends, get younger kids to show up, and let them learn what track’s all about.
Q: How long have you been doing track for?
A: I started in eighth grade, and I picked it up again in junior year.
Q: Are you planning on doing that in college too?
A: I’m gonna try to, but there’s no team at the school. I’ll probably look around to see if there’s one.
Q: Do you think that helps with soccer, the running?
A: Yeah.
Q: What’s your favorite event to compete in Track?
A: The 400.
Q: What’s your time?
A: 53.5.
Q: Do you feel like you built a community in track?
A: Yeah, I have a bunch of friends.
Q: Do you do it for the school?
A: Yeah.
Q: Do you do it with another team?
A: No.
Q: Are you doing a lot over the summer?
A: I’m gonna go watch some soccer games, but we’re not gonna do a lot of traveling because we’ve traveled previously during the years.
Q: When are you moving into college?
A: End of August.
Q: Are you hoping to meet a lot of people?
A: Yeah. I mean, there’s like 2,000 people who go to the school.
Q: What do you hope to do after college for a career?
A: Not exactly sure, something obviously, in the business field, maybe somewhere in technology or a sports company.
Q: Are you gonna do another schooling after?
A: Yeah, I might go for a master’s.
Q: In what?
A: Probably something business related.
Q: What’s your dream job?
A: CFO or a CEO. [CFO stands for] Chief finance operator, and then, [CFO is] just another business title.
Q: Do you have any other hopes for your future?
A: I guess to be wealthy so I can support my family.
Q: Do you plan on staying in Canada?
A: I have no clue where I’m gonna go. I guess wherever my first job is, I’ll go there.
Q: Why did you want to go to college in Canada?
A: Since I was born there, I’ve always been interested in it. Since I have citizenship, it’s super cheap for me. I’ll only be paying 16,000 [dollars] for everything yearly. So that was very nice.
Q: When did you move to the States?
A: I was a year old.
Q: So you’ve been here for a while?
A: Yeah.
Q: Why did you move?
A: My dad’s job.
Q: Do you have a lot of family here?
A: Nope, just my parents and my sister.
Q: They’re mostly in Canada?
A: And France, yeah.
Q: So do you go to France a lot too?
A: Yeah.
