2019-2020 Avatar: Matthew Johnson

My name is Matthew Johnson, and I am a newly minted Gatton Academy Avatar and a rising senior. I am from Smithfield, Kentucky in Oldham County. My sending school is Oldham County High School in Buckner, KY and I am the middle of three children. I am originally from California, and lived an hour north of San Diego until we relocated to Kentucky when I was 13. Now I know what you are thinking. This pale, skinny, and small boy is from California? Yes, he is! When I moved to Kentucky, it shocked my peers to learn I was from the Golden State. The move was not at all easy on me, and the culture shock rippled through me every day. EVERYTHING was different, from the way people talked to what they wore to what was taught in school. People thought I was different too, and even called me “Fresh Meat” or “City Slicker”. However, I joined clubs and adapted, a skill that would be very beneficial throughout the rest of my life, and eventually when I would be at Gatton.

I found out about Gatton my freshman year from a friend whose older brother attended. I came home and told my parents about it, and we all thought it was too good to be true and there must have been a catch. There were no programs like this from our home state, as there was no money in the state government to run a program like that. My parent and I attended a preview day towards the end of my freshman year and I decided I would apply. Less than a year later, after applying and interviewing, I received my acceptance and decided to attend almost immediately, as I knew it was the place for me.

Gatton has so far been a great experience. I started the Genome Discovery and Exploration Program under Dr. Rodney King, Ms. Naomi Rowland, and Dr. Claire Rinehart my first semester. This class really showed me how interesting research could be and taught me a lot of basic scientific practices. Another interesting class was Macroeconomics, which taught me a lot about how the world works on a financial level. This was not a required course, but Gatton allows students to take classes that let us explore our other interests. This semester, I am really excited because I get to be a TA (Teaching Assistant) in the same Genome program I took as a junior to the new Gatton Academy juniors, so it really feels full circle. I also was a part of many clubs such a Y Club, the Gatton Academy Medical Association, the Gatton Academy Leaders in Education, and GSA.

Although I loved the Genome Program, I wanted to explore more individualized more related to my career of choice, which is an OB/GYN. I began researching with Dr. Rachel Tinius of the Exercise Science Department my second semester. Before my junior year ended, I received a Research Internship Grant from Mr. Gatton that allowed me to get paid while I conducted research for 8 weeks during the summer, which allowed me to fully devote myself to the research. We ended up looking at the effect of exercise on the presence of the stress hormone cortisol, and the whole summer was a great experience I am very happy I had.

This week, I am traveling to England to go on the Gatton Academy Study Abroad Harlaxton trip. I am beyond excited for this experience, and it is something I have been waiting almost a year for. Not many kids get to say they took a high school English class in England, but that is just another opportunity the Gatton Academy has given me. I love being a Gatton Academy student, and it is so bittersweet that I only have a little over a year of these crazy exciting opportunities left.

Matthew