Hilltop Happenings

Associate Headmaster and Varsity Lacrosse Coach Bobby Wynne P’19 welcomed First Sergeant (ret) Matt Eversmann to join the Knights lacrosse team for a Zoom call. 

Having met at a lacrosse function years ago, Matt has graciously met with several Salisbury lacrosse teams, in fact, for Knights Assistant Coach John O’Connor ’12, the Zoom call was his second opportunity to take in the wisdom of this decorated Army Ranger.

First Sergeant (ret) Matt Eversmann personifies the qualities of duty, courage and selfless service to succeed when ordinary circumstances become extraordinary challenges. On October 3, 1993, Matt was placed in charge of a group of Army Rangers to lead a daytime raid against an eager enemy militia. His inspiring story of survival was immortalized in the epic film, Black Hawk Down, which recounts the harrowing experience. For his actions on the battlefield he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor device. During his remaining time in uniform, he worked at the Army War College, taught at The Johns Hopkins University and was finally deployed to Iraq where he lived with the Iraqi Army for 15 months during The Surge.

Drawing on these and other life experiences Matt discussed adversity and the lack of a universal answer as to how best overcome adverse situations.  Rather, he shared with the team the idea that being a balanced man is what he believes will essentially provide one the strength to get through adversity.  A solid balance between your physical and emotional life and professional life will create strength by which to draw from in times of need.  Matt encouraged the team to consider their role as students as their profession in this period of distance learning, to be sure to strike a balance despite being separated from a formal structure, teammates and mentors. 

A huge shout out to Matt for taking the time to spend with our team!

To read more about Matt and his experiences please view here. Watch a clip of the feature film Black Hawk Down.

Matt remained on active duty until May of 2008, when he retired after 20 years of service. His frustration with the typical hiring process for veterans fueled his desire to help others avoid the “veterans predicament,” where great servicemen and women are overlooked because of a broken hiring system. Since his retirement from active duty, Matt has worked in several industries in mid-level to senior-level positions. He was an operations officer in healthcare, an executive director in a non-profit and a VP of leadership development for a data management company.