“This is a picture of me teaching a class how to tell time.” Visiting a second grade classroom in the Lower School, Matthew Jordan ’18 shows them photographs and videos from his time volunteering at a rural school in Tanzania. He tells them about life at that school: the shared desks, the daily tortilla-chip soup, the songs that permeate the day. He stays upbeat and engaged, but makes sure that he’s guiding the young students of Charlotte Latin School to a greater degree of empathy as they think about how the lives of children 7,800 miles away might be radically different from their own circumstances.

Jordan is a world traveler; this past summer, he visited the Taj Mahal in India, which he counted as a full-circle moment, given that he had built a Lego model of the 17th-century monument when he was a child. At Latin, he can similarly be seen all over the campus: during the school year, he’s a Middle School Faculty Floater, while during the summer his role as Assistant Director of Latin Camps comes to the forefront. That’s when you’ll often see him and Laura Walker (Director of Latin Camps) greeting young visitors to the campus while wearing a tutu. “Tutu Tuesdays are a big part of our culture,” he confides. “But we’re always in costume.”

How is the Middle School different now from when you were a student here?

When I was in Middle School, I was a leader of the Mosaic Club. We were trying to branch out and diversify with a lot of affinity groups, and it felt like we were walking on eggshells a lot of the time. When you’re not comfortable with yourself, you often hide aspects of your identity. Now you see students in the Middle School creating their own clubs and their own spaces for people with marginalized identities. It’s been really exciting as an educator to come back and see students being who they want to be, not being afraid and having the confidence that I wish I had then.

It’s interesting having coworkers who were previously my teachers. There are some colleagues who I still cannot call by their first names, no matter how many times they tell me that I can. 

What do you think you learned in your time as a student at Latin?

I’m grateful that I understand MLA format. The first thing I realized at college was that a lot of people in my introductory classes had no idea how to cite their sources or didn’t know what the Oxford comma was. I think Latin also does a good job of instilling a global mindset, going beyond the borders of our community, pushing yourself to be a little uncomfortable and to grow from that.

What spurred your world travels?

When I was in college at Clemson, I was going to study abroad at the University of Aberdeen. I showed up in Scotland, ready to be immersed, and then Covid hit and I was sent home immediately. It was awful. So in 2023, I went to 19 different countries in 50 days. I started in Japan and ended in England: I just kept traveling west. Egypt was challenging, but I got to see the pyramids. And in Iceland, I got to see a volcano erupt, which was a dream come true. It was fire and ice, waterfalls and explosions: as a science lover, all that geothermal activity was a dream come true.

What have you learned about international travel?

I find that I have memorable experiences when I don’t plan for anything, rather than Googling “Things to do in Paris.” When you do that, you get a list of 600 things and you’re only there for a week, so you feel like you’ve missed the entire city. Pick two or three highlights that you know you really want to do and then let the rest of it come naturally. You’ll stumble into a museum you’ve never heard of and have the time of your life. A lot of my fondest memories are things that I didn’t plan.

How have the Core Values of Latin colored your life?

“Honor Above All” stays with me. But in my current role, I would say “Commitment to Excellence”: especially with summer camps, it’s really important to Laura and myself that everything we do keeps excellence in mind. We’ve got very loyal families who know the quality of our camp offerings and who trust us to create magical experiences for their children.

This is your third summer working at the Latin camps: how has it changed in that time?

Obviously, we’ve got more offerings than ever. My first summer, we had 172; last summer we had 233; this summer, we’ve got 255. We want to make sure that as we grow, we maintain the quality of the programs that we offer. This summer, we’ll be diving deeper into our staff training week, making sure it covers everything they need to know, but balancing the fun and the team bonding. 

What qualities are you looking for when you hire counselors?

We like counselors to have experience working with children who are not just family members, maybe some neighborhood kids or family friends. We do video applications, which Laura started maybe five years ago — now I feel like every competitor that we talk to is starting to do the same thing. At this point, because we’ve built up the hype behind the application videos, we’ve got counselors filming on golf courses, in grocery stores making lots of food puns, interviewing their neighborhood kids as if they’re news reporters. 

What are the responsibilities of running a summer camp?

One frustration I have is that when you tell people that you’re director or assistant director of a camp, they ask, “Oh, what do you do the other ten months of the year?” We’re actively planning: we’ve got our entire calendar for next summer ready in October. We have to do vendor contracts, we’ve got to hire over 200 staffers, we have to coordinate a schedule of which camps are in which buildings, so facilities and maintenance can do their construction plans and all the cleaning crews can come in. When the summer comes, Laura focuses on the camper experience and I focus on the staffer experience. 

Your camp name is “Sweet Tooth” — how’d that happen?

You submit three different names of things you’d be comfortable being called and a council decides your fate. And I love anything with sugar in it: cupcakes, Skittles, Swedish fish, cookie cake. I love icing.

What’s your Middle School role?

My primary focus is summer camps, but I’m available in the Middle School if they need me to cover a class or the front desk. I’m also a coach for JV volleyball in the fall and then this spring I will be coaching Middle School track and field. I started crocheting because my sister was having a baby and I wanted to make my niece some hats and sweaters. As soon as people heard about it, there was a Middle School crocheting club, so on Friday afternoons you can find me and ten Middle School girls crocheting.

What are your life goals?

I’d like to see all seven wonders of the world: I’ve seen three. My particular interest right now is Machu Picchu. At a certain point, I would like to live abroad. I didn’t go to school to become an educator, but I’ve fallen in love with it — not just the teaching, but the mentoring. It’s really special that kids can come to me with issues and concerns and questions.