Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Matt Bindig '98

Teacher, Orchard Park High School
East Aurora, N.Y.

As a prospective student, Matt Bindig ’98 recalls sitting in Professor of English Deborah Tall’s literature class on The Odyssey.  “I had recently read The Odyssey and got so wrapped up in the discussion that I ended up raising my hand; no one blinked at the fact a prospective student jumped into the fray,” says Bindig. “It was one of the first times in my life that I really felt like I was being taken seriously as a thinker. The next morning I was sitting by the lake, trying to make a decision about where to attend, when I heard something in the tree overhead. When I looked up, I saw a robin building a nest above me. That's the moment I decided I would build my home at Hobart.”

While at Hobart, Bindig majored in English and minored in history and education. Outside of the classroom, he focused on football. During the 1997 season he was among the team leaders in tackles and was named Second Team All-Conference.  More importantly, as a member of the team, head coach Mike Cragg P’13 taught Bindig “in a very tangible way, the importance of holding yourself accountable for the impact your actions have on others.” 

After earning a B.A. in English cum laude from Hobart, Bindig taught for two years at The Williston Northhampton School in Easthampton, Mass., then went on to complete a master's in education from Harvard University. He then began his career as a teacher in Massachusetts, and later, in New York State. Today, Bindig teaches Advanced Placement Literature and Composition, Creative Writing, and Sports Literature at Orchard Park High School in Orchard Park, N.Y., and Introductory Writing and Literature at Erie Community College.

During the Colleges’ 2015 Commencement ceremony, Bindig was honored with the Colleges’ Touching the Future Award. Established in 2004, the Touching the Future Award celebrates and honors the many early childhood educators-those with whom HWS students interacted in elementary, middle and high school, who have led graduates to Hobart and William Smith and to crossing the stage for Commencement. Amanda Reusch '15 said in her nomination of Bindig, "Mr. Bindig truly takes the mission of HWS to heart and has embodied it in his own teaching. …I would like to thank Mr. Bindig for giving me the chance to speak and to be heard, and for giving me the skills I needed to live a life of consequence at HWS. As I leave to join the Peace Corps and teach English in Tanzania, I know that I will continue to be connected to Mr. Bindig because I follow his lead and create a space where my students feel like I am a safe confidant."

"Being recognized in this way is a great honor because it's an affirmation of the work I have done not only in my classroom, but in all student-first, inquiry-driven classrooms around the country," says Bindig of his Touching the Future Award. "There is a plaque on the steps of Coxe Hall that celebrates Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote, "The ends pre-exist in the means."  Where we end up is a product of how we travel.  That is my teaching philosophy. With it comes the responsibility to make every single day in my classroom matter.  My goal is to empower students in their quest to discover and clarify their voices, to encourage them to carefully and critically read the world around them, and to facilitate their active, intellectual engagement with that world.”

In addition to the Touching the Future Award, Bindig has received many accolades, including, The Frances Nolting Temple Prize for Teaching (1998); The William Prall Prize in English (1998); The Hobart Alumni Association Award for Excellence in the Humanities (1997); a 2006 Yearbook Dedication from Fayetteville-Manlius High School, and Framingham High School Teacher of the Year (2001-2002). He was the recipient of 2006 CNYTC Grant, "Creating Meaningful Responses to Student Writing" and the 2005 National Endowment for the Humanities Grant at SUNY Binghamton, "Reading Don Quixote." Bindig served as the 2005 Commencement Speaker at Fayetteville-Manlius High School and a presenter to the 2004 Syracuse University Project Advance Conference.  

Outside of teaching, Bindig works part time, helping students brainstorm and write their college essays, as a member of a college consulting team. In his spare time, Bindig runs marathons, coaches his children’s sports teams and works on his own writing when he can. While a student, Bindig met Theresa Weidmann Bindig ’00. The two would later marry in the Hobart and William Smith chapel and now have three children.

When looking at Bindig’s many accomplishments, there is no doubt that he built a home at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. “There is no doubt that my college experience, both in the classroom and on the athletic field, directly impacts my life on a near-daily basis.”