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Matthew Loftus

Biography

Graduate Scholarship Biography (prepared June 2006): Home-schooled after kindergarten and the eldest of 13 children, Matthew Loftus developed into a flexible learner who enjoyed a range of studies and also found ways to excel in leading, teaching, and serving others. He started studying guitar and piano at the age of 12, and continued to play guitar with his church through college graduation. At 14, he enrolled at the local community college. He used the next several years to travel to Mexico and Haiti for construction and child service projects, teach martial arts classes, and work two summers at a Department of Defense molecular biology lab. This last experience inspired him to consider a career in chemistry research and major in that subject at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

In the summer before entering UMBC, he worked on a two-month church trip assisting AIDS support groups in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. "I discovered that I am truly happiest while serving others and that I want to be involved with helping developing countries." A series of volunteer opportunities with a refugee aid agency, another visit to Kenya, and a stint working in two hospitals in Ghana led Matthew to add a pre-medical concentration to his degree. He studied Arabic to help prepare for assisting refugees from Sudan.

With the support of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Matthew is entering medical school. "I look forward to the day when I am practicing medicine myself and teaching others."

Undergraduate Scholarship Biography (prepared April 2004):  Mr. Loftus has achieved a remarkable academic and extra-curricular record for his age. He began taking college classes at 14 and not only compiled a perfect 4.0 grade point average, but also earned a certificate to tutor other students. He won four scholarships and was elected vice president of Phi Theta Kappa on his campus. Along the way, he qualified as a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do martial arts. Outside the classroom, he cared for an older man with multiple sclerosis and worked as a laboratory intern for the US Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. Mr. Loftus also played the classical guitar in student recitals.

It was his service in Mexico as part of a church mission trip in 2003, however, that perhaps had the largest influence on Mr. Loftus. He joined a group from his church to assist in two construction projects and a Bible school for children in Juarez. "My perceptions about what it meant to serve others and my ideas about the Mexican culture were changed in merely a week," he wrote. "Our team had the chance to see and experience another culture, expanding our horizons and our worldviews." Earlier, he took part in similar mission trips to Rio Verde, Mexico, and Haiti.

Matthew intends eventually to seek a doctoral degree and pursue research in organic chemistry, a subject that has fascinated him since he was a small boy. "My chemistry classes gave me a chance to imagine a world within our world, a place where chemical interactions drive the processes of life on earth," he wrote. His chemistry professor at Harford Community College confirmed that his prize student has a good chance to make significant contributions to science. "He is passionate about his future in science and to complement his scholarship he is a really nice person," said Associate Professor Norman Friedman.

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