By Nicole Tafe
Brewing Up a World-Class Destination
Peters Township alum Matthew Sherwin works to bring a national beer museum to Pittsburgh.
By Nicole Tafe
For the past two years, Peters Township’ s Matthew Sherwin has been focusing on creating a national beer museum— Brew: The Museum of Beer— that would tell beer’ s 10,000-year history and call Pittsburgh its home. Sherwin, 33, son of Mark and Marcia Sherwin, attended St. Louise de Marillac Catholic grade school and graduated from Peters Township High School as class valedictorian in 2001. While at PTHS, Sherwin was involved in extracurricular activities, including forensics, mock trial, Future Business Leaders of America( FBLA) and tennis.
“ I gained a good deal from these after-school activities, including excellent mentors and stronger relationships with teachers,” says Sherwin, who credits faculty members Brian King and Kevin Bastos as two of his strongest mentors at PTHS.“ The activities were fun in themselves, but my favorite part was always what happened after our practices when we would all hang around with Mr. King and Mr. Bastos and debate, almost always about politics,” laughs Sherwin.“ The late night bonding was the best— no one had to be there, but everyone wanted to be.”
With the additional support of many other mentors including his parents, St. Louise priests Fr. Tom Kredel and Fr. Al Zapf, PTHS chemistry teacher Walt Jennings, PTHS biology teacher Dr. John Fabian, PTHS FBLA instructor Kathy Sekely and PTHS guidance counselor Vicki Mannion, Sherwin continued on to Yale University for his undergraduate studies. He pursued a dual degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry and Ethics, Politics & Economics, graduating in 2005.
“ After graduation, I wasn ' t certain what my career path would be, but I knew I had developed a love of writing and politics and wanted to experience life outside of the United States,” says Sherwin.“ So, I applied for
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Conceptual rendering of the inside of Brew: The Museum of Beer.