PEAK

18 PEAK | SPRING 2017 Laser Focus att Shearin's approach to his Dartmouth football career and his eventual business career are identical. The 5-foot-6 and 165 pound walk-on running back who will be a junior in the fall lives by the philosophy espoused by one Abraham Lincoln: I will study, I will prepare myself and then some day my chance will come. "That's one of my favorite quotes," the personable Shearin said. "It's been my idea ever since I got here, and it will continue to be until the day I die. I know I will keep putting in the work in the weight room, on the field and in the film room, and my chance will come when the time is ready. I just have to make sure that I am ready when that opportunity presents itself." Anyone who has watched him squirt through the line and turn on the jets won't be surprised if he enjoys success when he gets his chance. Although he hasn't yet had a carry at the varsity level he opened eyes when he reeled off the longest run in the preseason game at Harvard last fall when he went on to top the Big Green junior varsity in rushing yards. The whippet-quick graduate of California's El Cajon Valley High School outside of San Diego isn't letting any FieldTurf grow under his feet when it comes to his career ambitions either. A year ago he did the JP Morgan BA Early Advantage Program in Chicago in April and then the Goldman Sachs Undergraduate Camp in New York City in May. He spent the summer as a Mortgage Lending Intern with the Navy Federal Credit Union back home and followed that up by petitioning Dartmouth to be off campus this summer so that instead of taking classes he can return to JP Morgan for a full investment banking internship. "Being a sophomore intern in investment banking is not rare, but it's not common," Shearin explained. "It can slingshot me forward in terms of exposure, networking, knowing people at the firm." To clear the way to spend the summer on Wall Street Shearin had to take an additional class in the winter and an extra class in the spring. He's fully aware that on top of the heavy course load he will miss out on Sophomore Summer, a special time for Dartmouth students. And that's not all he will miss. "I'm making some sacrifices," he admitted. "I didn't go home last spring break. I won't go home this spring break. I won't be able to see my mom and sister until Thanksgiving, so it will have been almost a whole calendar year since I have seen them." His sister, his mom Wyanett Powell, his uncle Gary Rayford Sr., and his extended family have been motivating forces for the laser-focused Shearin, as upbeat and enthusiastic a member of the football team as you will meet. "The drive comes from being pushed by my mom and uncle but at the same time knowing that I have the opportunity to do something that nobody in my family has done, and that I have the opportunity to make all of our lives better," he said. "My mom and my uncle did their best to make sure I had clothes on my back, there was food on the table and a roof over my head. Those were the essentials. "How can I give back to them? I have the opportunity to do that tenfold. I can be a great example to all the little cousins running around back home. I feel like it would be a disservice to them and my family to get here and not be a success." On and off the gridiron. "You get challenged in life all the time," he said. "How you deal with challenges is where you find yourself as a person and establish your character. Being an undersized player here at Dartmouth, a Division I school, it was an obstacle but I knew that I could overcome it. "It is the same thing in life with the drive that I have to make a better life for the people around me. I know it is going to be tough, but I know that I can do it because it is so important to me." Laser Focus matt shearin '19 M Sophomore Matt Shearin is taking Wall Street by storm with his charm and focus on growth.

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