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Good move, Hilton Head Christian Academy: Your new headmaster is the kind of guy who’s basically been successful at everything he’s done.
Matt Skinner, who started June 1 at HHCA after eight years at the helm of Landmark Christian School in Atlanta, is a Texas native who started college on a football scholarship at Rice University. He scored a baseball scholarship at the same school after his freshman year. He was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles and played a year of semi-pro baseball after college. And by his early 30s he was a CPA with his own successful business, three kids and a beautiful wife. And all that was before he realized his true calling: to be a headmaster at a Christian school.
Monthly recently caught up with Skinner, 48, to talk about his vision for HHCA’s future.
Q. What made you decide to leave Landmark Christian?
A. Our youngest was graduating high school there, and we thought, being empty nesters, it would be a great time for a transition. We’ve always wanted to live at the beach and I love golf, so Hilton Head seemed a great place to go.
Q. Going from owning a CPA business to being a Christian school headmaster is a pretty significant career jump. How did it come about?
A. I was enjoying my CPA job — it was flexible and profitable, and I was sitting on the board of my daughter’s Christian school. One day in October the headmaster walked into a board meeting and said he was resigning at the end of December. Then he told the board, “Matt ought to take over as interim.” After talking and praying with my wife, we decided to give it a shot, and I took a six-figure pay cut and went to work.
Q. Three schools and 14 years later, is it safe to say that leap of faith has paid off?
A. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I think that this is what I was created to do, and all the experiences I had prior to 1996 were in preparation for me to become a headmaster at a Christian school.
Q. How does Hilton Head Christian Academy compare to your last school in Atlanta?
A. Landmark Christian was much larger, with 810 students. It’s probably half that size here. I really am looking forward to getting back into the classrooms and knowing the kids better. With 145 faculty and staff members (at Landmark), it was hard to get to know them as well. Here there’s more of a family-type atmosphere.
Q. What are your goals for HHCA’s future?
A. I’m a very competitive guy. I want to have the best school on the island. I want this same idea in my faculty, staff, kids, families — that we want to be the best. And not so we can put a gold medal up on the building, but because that’s what I believe God has called us to do as Christians — to be the best that we can be.
