About Teacher Matt Lawrence

Matt Lawrence earned his M.S. in educational television from the University of Wisconsin (where he was also a writer on the original staff of The Onion). He has won teaching awards and recognition from the Washington Association of Career & Technical Education, the Washington State PTA, ParentMap magazine, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and the National YoungArts Foundation. He was a founding member of the Media Educators Excellence Team (an inter-district consortium of high school media educators in the Puget Sound region) and in 2011 was selected by members to be its first president.

In 2001, he founded the Digital Filmmaking Program at Ballard High School, where he taught until retiring in the summer of 2019.  His students won numerous prizes at prestigious film festivals and awards from the National YoungArts Foundation as well as many High School Awards for Excellence in a variety of categories at the northwest and national Emmy Awards. In 2009 he was elected to the Board of Governors (Northwest Region) of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and in 2023 the Academy inducted him into the Silver Circle.  These select professionals are chosen for their outstanding achievements and leadership.  He is the first Silver Circle inductee to be honored for their teaching at the secondary level.  

His twenty years of professional experience in radio, television, and film, include writing, videography, lighting, animation, audio recording, directing, technical directing, editing, sound design and scoring. He has worked for corporate as well as non-profit clients on studio and film-style productions.  His work has been shown at film festivals, art museums, and on cable and broadcast television.