Mr. Edinger eliminates problems

Mr. Matt Edinger is an aide at Milton Area School District and has been helping kids for five years. Here’s just a little bit of what he does in a day. 

Mr. Edinger said that his schedule, which changes daily, involves attending different assigned classes. 

  Though he usually starts off his day with bus duty, he said that kids discuss their home life with him. While he does that. He then goes down to the cafeteria after he’s done, and more kids come and talk to him, he added. 

 According to Mr. Edinger, he also walks certain students to their classes. If someone is having a problem, they go down to his office and talk to him. He added that he enjoys helping kids out and solving their problems. 

Mr. Edinger said he struggles with saying no to certain kids. He believes if he can’t help, he has failed, he said. He added his main reason for taking this position is that he wants to give back to the teachers that helped him. He said he wants to help in any way that he can, and added that the best thing about his job is seeing kids, sitting and talking to them. 

Mr. Edinger said that he enjoys history and believes that if he brings a little of the past to the future, he thinks that students will get inspired or motivated, Mr. Edinger said. 

 When he was a student at Milton High School, Mr. Edinger said he was on the football team. He said a memory of his high school days included when fellow students picked up his car and put it in the school. So he had to drive his car in school down to the auto shop and drive out. 

  He said that as a student he used to have seven periods a day with a study hall in-between them. Options for classes included four foreign languages, he said. The gym used to be smaller, and they didn’t have a weight room. According to Mr. Edinger, his class was the first class to use the middle school. He added that he graduated in 1987.  

Before he took his job at Milton High School, he said he used to work at The United States Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg. Mr. Edinger said. He added that it was built in 1932 and is the last free standing walled institution remaining  in the Bureau of  Prisons. This prison had inmates such as Al Capone, The World Trade Center Bombers, members of drug cartels, political prisoners, and many gang members.  

Mr. Edinger said he uses some techniques he learned in the prison to teach kids he works with. He uses these skills to prevent kids from going down the wrong path, he added. 

 A colleague of Mr. Edinger, Mr. David O’Brien, who also works as an aide in the high school, shared a few words:”Mr. Edinger is very knowledgeable about the Milton area, its history, business and people.  He keeps me informed on what is going on in the school and the community.  He also has a good insight into students’ needs, aspirations and especially their problems.” 

Mr. Edinger’s advice to students is: “When things are rough, keep fighting, keep working. Eventually the light will shine on you.”