Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been spotlight a local teacher at Rock Bridge High School in Columbia, MO. His name is Matt Cone and he’s using his teaching skills to raise awareness of global disease and extreme poverty. I hope that his students, his ideas and his inspiration will encourage you to use your talents — whether they be teaching, dancing, acting, organizing, or speaking —to help end extreme poverty and global disease.

The below piece is written by Kelly Smith, a student of Matt Cone.

-Katie Andrews, ONE Regional Organizer

My favorite experience in Mr. Cone’s independent study (aside from reading Mountains Beyond Mountains) was when we were asked to create our own curriculum. He challenged each one of us to pick a course we would like to see offered in school and then outline how and what we would like to teach. It was incredibly difficult, but it provided significant insight into teaching and all of the challenges within the educational system. We simultaneously researched and discussed tracking in education–a fascinating, but often neglected topic.

I would say that the most important thing that I learned was how to ask questions. The focus was always on student activism and on exploring the aspects of our education and upbringing that influence our perspective and context.

I would say that my favorite Mr. Cone moment was when we presented our class curriculum and he invited the principal and numerous other faculty members to our weekly meeting so that they could listen to our plans and hear our perspective. That was what was so great about Mr. Cone–I always felt like he really wanted us to have our voices heard. He cared so much about his students and as a result he never neglected to ask our opinion or to listen to our ideas.

I’ve become involved with a number of different student organizations on campus related to HIV/AIDS awareness and education both globally and locally. I actually volunteered with Partners in Health my sophomore year when I learned just how much of an impact Mr. Cone had on not just his students, but on the people working for PIH across the country. They knew him by name and were incredibly interested to hear my perspective on Mr. Cone and his teaching. I am now a senior at Boston University and I have yet to find a mentor/teacher who has inspired me as much as he did.