Matthew B Murray

Background

About Matthew B Murray

I'm a recent graduate of the George Washington University School Counseling program, which is part of GW's Graduate School of Education and Human Development (GSEHD). While pursuing my degree I participated in three internships in Washington, D.C. Public Schools: Ron Brown High School with Mr. Shatane Porter as my supervisor; Truesdell Elementary School with Mx. Besa Mulaye as my supervisor; and Deal Middle School with Ms. Johnet Travers as my supervisor. My internship experience provided countless opportunities to apply, develop, and refine the knowledge and skills I learned in the classroom at GW to real-world school-based circumstances with a diverse array of students from pre-K 3 through high school. I've found working with all age levels deeply rewarding, however, my skillsets, personality, and preferences have made me most effective with elementary through middle school students. I'm drawn to humanistic theoretical orientations including Relational-Cultural (RCT), Gestalt, and Existential, however, in practice in schools orientations like Solution-Focused (SFBT) and Choice Theory are more realistically applicable. I retired from the Air Force in June of 2021 after serving 21 years as a double bassist and bass guitarist in the Air Force Band. While there I acquired diverse experience collaborating in small and large ensembles as well as within a large organization as both a supervisee and supervisor. I traveled to all 48 contiguous states performing public relations concerts, and deployed twice to the Central Command (CENTCOM) region visiting nine countries including Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. These experiences deepened my understanding and appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism and have had a profound impact on the way I interact and relate with others, which I found enormously beneficial as an intern in DC public schools.