Charlie Matilla is not like every other person you meet. He prefers to stay to himself and would consider himself more introverted yet he is one of the easiest people to talk to. He is friendly and even though reserved he is not shy.
“I prefer to stay to myself, it just so happens that I know a lot of people,” Matilla said.
Matilla is a two time state qualifier and team captain for cross country, he is also a one time state qualifier for track and field. Running is a huge part of his life. Though Matilla has been a runner for many years, his freshman and sophomore year started slow, but when junior year came things clicked.
“I think junior year was my big turning point,” Matilla said. “so I was eventually able to step it up and make it where I wanted to be.”
He is also a big component in the speech department. Matilla is the only kid so far to qualify for speech state freshman, sophomore, and junior year.
Additionally, if he makes it to state this year, his senior year, he will be the first ever Lakeland High School student to qualify all four years.
Matilla’s topic this year to qualify for state is on a company called “Charge, Caffeinated Chocolate.” This company donates all their profits to either U.S. veterans who were serving in Afghanistan and are now in Ukraine or the rhino foundations in Africa to get research back on them so we can bring them back someday.
Matilla is also a part of the student council. He plays a huge role every year in Lakelands Christmas Wish Committee and assembly.
“Everyone else in the Christmas Wish Committee was an underclassmen this year so as a senior he was a really big help and was a good leader,” Katherine Fus said.
A big part of Matilla’s life that has shaped who he is today, is his fight against epilepsy. Over 3.4 million people deal with epilepsy in the US, 1 in 26 will deal with it sometime in their lifetime and about 470,000 of those people are 17 and younger. Matilla is also one of these people.
Matilla has had epilepsy since birth, his first serious attack happened when he was 2 years old. Ever since that day in 2010 it has been an uphill climb.
The attacks and seizures were scary moments for the whole family. From the age two to four Matilla spent approximately the same amount of time at home as he did in the hospital. During some of his worst times would spend up to five minutes seizing until it calmed down.
After a rough few years, Matilla and his family thought that it had all gone away until he turned 12 years old when his seizures came back.
“I remember waking up in the hospital again and it was just a kind of a feeling that felt way too familiar,” Matilla said.
After the seizures came back, doctors came to the conclusion that he would have to stay on medication for his epilepsy the rest of his life. Despite this news, Matilla continued to thrive and get stronger, learning to control what he could.
“Being able to control my epilepsy and eczema has been the biggest journey in my life so far,” Matilla said. “Honestly both of those have taught me a lot of self-discipline.”
In coming years, he plans to put this self discipline to the test. Graduating out of high school, Matilla plans on attending Montana Tech as a cross country athlete. He plans on double majoring in electrical engineering and sales, he will end with an electrical engineering degree and an accounting degree.
“I’m going to be able to take what the engineers make and actually talk to people about what they are doing,” Matilla said.
I have no doubt that Matilla has a very full and bright future. His determination, focus, and developed social skills give him all the tools he needs to succeed in this world and I look forward to seeing what he does with the skills he has.
“He is very determined,” Matilla’s younger sister Annie Matilla said. “When he enjoys doing something or he loves something, he will put in an absurd amount of effort.”
