Matthew Ellis

For some people, coming to a new school can be challenging. The prospects of making entirely new friends and meeting new people can seem daunting, and even cause people to keep to themselves and disappear into the background. Not for Matthew Ellis. In his time at the school (just under a year), Ellis has not only integrated himself into the school’s culture, but also has become a key part of the school as a whole. His outgoing and ebullient nature are uniquely unmissable; anyone who interacts with him knows his shining personality.

Ellis moved here from Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. However, Ellis was not completely without connection to the school. His cousins, Chris, Cobe and Cameren Green have attended the school since also moving from Texas three years prior. Despite enjoying Lawrence, Ellis still misses some aspects of his old city. “The hardest thing to move away from were the few friends that I had there,” says Ellis. Naturally, Ellis misses his close friends from his old school, but also adds, “Everyone here is encouraging and I still have true friends here.”

Upon first coming to the school, Ellis was struck with the size: “Geez, this school is small,” he says. “Like straight up, this school is actually really small.” Moving from a public school to a private school, there was a conspicuous difference in size. However, regarding his new school, Ellis states, “It’s a pretty tight knit community so I was already in love with it from day one.” Ellis likes Lawrence, but for a different reason than one might expect: “My favorite thing is that there is literally nothing to do in this town. There’s not a lot to do here, but that gives me enough time to actually focus on things that I want to get done.”

Besides his schoolwork, Ellis enjoys using the extra free time for his main hobby: music creation. Ellis finds Lawrence much more conducive to his music production, saying, “If I wanted to make a song and start writing for it [here], I could do that in about a week, compared to Dallas, where there were a lot of things to do and a good amount of distractions. I’d probably be writing that song for about half a year, because there was so much to do.” Ellis has an affinity for anything musical, founding the first ever Seabury pep band and contributing to the Seabury Choir. Regarding his personal music creation, Ellis says, “It’s a long process. I remember when I made my first song it took me about a year. I played around on piano and guitar, and transposed it into a digital audio workshop called FL Studio. It’s pretty fun.”

Ellis hopes that he can have a career in music, but also will not forget his roots, saying, “I want to be a good enough musician and a wealthy enough musician to support my future family, and my family that has supported me along the way.” Between his glowing personality and musical excellence, one should not doubt Ellis and his aspirations.

“He is the nicest, most energetic and most original person.” - Mr. Gollier

“He’s a really cool guy and it’s fun to be around him. He brings a lighter mood to the space.” - David Klimiuk

“He’s really outgoing, positive and just seems to be nice to everybody.” - Erin Higgins

“He is very considerate and compassionate. I am go glad he came to Bishop.” -Sophia Ostlund