By JAMES BELL
Hays Post

When former Hays resident Matt Glassman graduated from Thomas More Prep-Marian in 2000 he never expected that nearly 20 years later he would be receiving his Ph.D. from Yale.

“If you would have asked me 10 years or 20 years ago when I was graduating high school whether I thought I was going to go to Yale, I certainly wouldn’t have thought so,” he said.

Adding “definitely my teachers wouldn’t have thought so.”

But with a work ethic he attributes to growing up in Hays and a conversion to a more spiritual life, he completed a long educational journey graduating last week from the well-known school with a Ph.D. in near Eastern languages and civilizations.

“I was surprised as anyone was to end up here,” Glassman said.

Following his graduation from TMP, Glassman began college at Fort Hays State University and later transferred to the University of Kansas, where he completed an undergraduate degree in political science, with the intention of going to law school.

But life had other plans, and Glassman he spent some time in the workforce before finding a direction.

“I have to attribute some of it to grace,” he said. “My life in undergrad was going nowhere, then I had a religious conversion.”

He said that conversion reset his life.

After a couple of years in the workforce, Glassman returned to school in Ohio at Franciscan Univerity of Steubenville earning a master of arts degree in theology in 2008, later continuing his studies at Boston College earning a master of theological studies in Old Testament biblical studies, studying history, middle eastern languages and archaeology.

But getting there took dedication and focus, something he attributes to working in the family’s construction business in Hays.

“When I was growing up, starting when I was 13 or 14 years old, my dad pretty much pushed me into service in the family business out there doing construction every summer that gave me two very important things that advanced my academic career.”

No. 1, he said, was “it allowed me to see that I definitely didn’t want that for myself,” he said with a laugh and, No. 2,  “it gave me a real sense of determination and hard work.”

“I don’t think I would have gotten had I grown up in some other part of the country,” he said.

That work ethic allowed him to push through long nights with young children and pushing past his peers.

“High school, undergrad, certainly in graduate school, I was never the smartest guy to walk in a room, but I knew that regardless of what anyone else would say or what they are capable of that I would work harder than anybody else in the class,” he said. “I know a lot of smart people that didn’t get into Ph.D. programs when we were master’s students together … at some point it is beyond my explanation.”

Post-graduation, Glassman hopes to continue giving back what he has learned in a full-time tenure track academic position, continuing the work he as done as an adjunct instructor since 2016 at colleges near his Connecticut home.

Unfortunately, the job market for higher learning is more concentrated on the East Coast, so chance are slim he will return to the area in the near future, but he is hopeful.

“I always said if the opportunity arose to get back closer to home in the Midwest somewhere, I would jump at it. I would love to do it.”

Looking back, he said he hopes others that dream of attending a top-tier school know should know that it is possible with some determination.

“There is no real secret, you catch a couple of lucky breaks … but it’s real hard work,” Glassman said.