Shaping Men for Others
Matt Sather ’93 had just taken a job as a paralegal and was intending to apply to law school when he got the call that an English faculty position was opening up at Prep in January. He accepted the job, intending to move on with his career after a year or two. That was the fall of 1997. Twenty-six years and counting, Sather has touched the lives of countless Prep brothers as both a teacher and coach, recently earning himself the title of Most Inspirational Teacher of the Year from the Class of 2023.
“I’ve spent more than half my life in these buildings. I’m 100% shaped by my time at Prep,” says Sather. “I would start by saying this is a great place to work, as good a place to work now as it’s ever been. We have plenty of intellectual freedom in the classroom to pursue new ideas in appropriate ways to keep us engaged. The mutual respect and communication among the faculty and staff has shaped how I personally view the world and see interpersonal relationships.”
“We throw around terms like ‘cura personalis’ and ‘meeting people where they are’. These walls bleed those values. When you’ve been here as long as I have, it doesn’t wash off when you walk out the door.”
As soon as Sather started teaching at Prep, he began volunteering with Prep’s hockey program. By the end of the ’98-’99 season, at just 24 years old, he was elevated to head varsity coach with the charge of rebuilding the program’s culture. He led the team to 11 championships before stepping down at the end of the ’21-’22 season but continues to serve as assistant coach of the varsity baseball team.
Sather is an excellent example of the life-long learners Prep seeks to cultivate. After teaching English exclusively for 20 years and serving as English department chair for a number of years, Sather dipped his toe into teaching history to reestablish Prep’s interdisciplinary American Studies program, which he now team teaches with Vin O’Hara ’01.
Sather sees the Prep’s lifelong brotherhood playing an important role in inspiring the students of today to be men for others. “When they see support from alumni—hockey alumni coming to the alumni game, world-famous political cartoonist Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher ’73 coming back to campus to teach for a day, or an alumnus they’ve never met donating a science lab—it inspires them to give of themselves on the field, on retreats, and in the classroom. When you see that camaraderie, the brotherhood, from so many people from so many walks of life, it’s hard not to get inspired by that.”
“This is a place that is soup to nuts, top to bottom focused on its mission. It’s literally painted on our walls. You cannot miss it,” asserts Sather. “That mission is critical in a world that’s cynical and confusing. An investment in Prep is not just an investment in these boys today. It’s an investment in America’s future. We’re building transformative leaders by giving them a place to go where the values are clear and unwavering.”