Spring 2017: Matt Childs selected as student speaker for Graduate Degree Hooding Ceremony
by Michelle Saport |
Matt Childs will be the student speaker at the UAA Graduate Degree Hooding Ceremony on May 6, 2017.
Matt Childs submitted an application to be UAA's Spring 2017 Commencement Speaker but was narrowly edged out by another exceptional student. His application and speech topic captivated the selection committee, and they proactively suggested that he be awarded the opportunity to be the student speaker at the Graduate Degree Hooding Ceremony.
Being selected as the Hooding Ceremony Student Speaker is an honor, but when the honor is capped off as the first-ever student speaker for this event, it carries an unspoken responsibility of being a trendsetter. Matt, a soon-to-be MBA graduate, recognizes education as a gift that carries a responsibility of "being the best student I can be." He started his academic journey at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1995. Due to the lure of a new job in the Lower 48, he was not able to attend his undergraduate commencement ceremony.
Fast forward to 2014: Matt returned to the UAA College of Business and Public Policy (CBPP) to obtain an MBA with a business analytics emphasis. During his stint as an MBA student, he served as president of the MBA Student Association and a CBPP Leadership Fellows Mentor. He also contributed time and effort to the CBPP/Clark Middle School Leadership Fellows Junior Program, volunteered as a guest speaker for CBPP's Introduction to Leadership classes, and served as a virtual ePortfolio mentor for a student in the Introduction to Leadership class.
Besides being engaged in extracurricular activities, he engaged in the classroom. When asked by the commencement committee "how is your speech relevant to commencement," he responded that "as MBA students, we utilize our experiences, make sacrifices and choices that led us to obtain the gift of education, which is a responsibility." In Matt's view, the responsibility to be an engaged student involves sharing knowledge, networking with students and faculty, and giving back to UAA and the Anchorage community. Moreover, Matt sees the responsibility as lifelong-hence it doesn't stop when you graduate.
Please join the College of Business and Public Policy in congratulating Matt Childs as the 2017 UAA Graduate Degree Hooding Ceremony Student Speaker.
Matt Childs is the director of data analytics for General Communications Incorporated (GCI), Alaska's largest telecommunications company. Matt has worked with GCI for 10 years, starting out as a software developer before moving into the Business Intelligence group. Matt has worked in IT for 25 years in various industries, including logistics, energy and financial institutions. When he started working with data warehouses in 1998, he knew that he had found his true passion.
In addition to his B.A. in history, Matt also earned a Master of Arts in creative writing from Alaska Pacific University in 2004 and will be receiving a Master of Business Administration from the University of Alaska Anchorage in the spring of 2017.
He'll be happy to talk your ear off about the American Civil War, writing, astronomy, technology or, well, anything else. Matt is also a co-author of the book VBScript in a Nutshell, published by O'Reilly Press.
Read about the student speaker for the Spring 2017 Commencement Ceremony, Nina Lee: "Resilience, parents' inspiration guided Commencement speaker toward success."
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