St. Albans , Kanawha County , West Virginia

Getting students to understand geometry can be a recipe for disaster, but for Matt Rhodes helping them learn math is his passion.

"I was given a gift of how to understand numbers and explain them to people," Rhodes said.

But Rhodes almost didn't make use of his gift. As a college freshman he had other plans. An avid cook, he wanted to own his own restaurant.

"I had the better part of my menu picked out," he said. "I knew what it [the restaurant] was going to be called. I knew what I wanted it [the restaurant] to look like."

But fate was cooking up a different plan for Rhodes. A plan she hatched using something as simple as an alarm clock. His freshman year Rhodes slept through an important accounting exam and it would mean he would fail the class.

"I had to make a choice," he said. "Do I go backwards a bit and redo all this or do I do something else."

So Rhodes made a choice that would shape the rest of his life.

"I looked for something else that seemed to make sense," he said. "I knew I didn't have to think about math."

Now Rhodes creates something better than a tasty meal. He's got the recipe for helping his students achieve success.

"Very few people in the world get to have the opportunity to affect positively the next generation on a day to day basis," he said."

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