Hello, and thank you for taking your time to read about me—Matthew Pryor. I am a student teacher in my fourth year of the Outdoor Adventure Leadership at Laurentian University. I was born on December 7, 1998 and raised in Toronto, Gravenhurst and Collingwood, Ontario. Growing up, I spent my weekends canoeing and swimming at my cottage in the summer and skiing, hiking or making quinzhees in the Blue Mountain area during the winter. My work experience is mainly from four summers working as a counsellor and trip leader at YMCA Wanakita and YMCA Geneva Park. Because of my exposure to the outdoors from a young age, I have come to be an avid nature enthusiast, adventure seeker and passionate outdoor educator. To understand more about where I come from, my teaching background is as follows: my mother is a teacher, most recently of special education and Grade 4, and my father is a health and physical education and Grade 3 teacher. During my time at Laurentian university in the ADVL program I have studied, worked and paddled through outdoor environments and social environments that I hope to one day guide clients through in a professional manner. As a result of my experiences from learning and sharing experiences in the outdoors, my philosophy of teaching developed to be rooted in the use of nature as a platform for the transfer of knowledge and tool for delivering therapeutic experiences through meaningful experiences. I hope to share this philosophy with all and any students, and is something which remains the foundation of my personality.

I hope to use the interpersonal and technical skills I have acquired from my studies and diverse background to adapt to my future work environments, and to function as the best teacher, mentor and role-model that I can be.