The dream of doing what you love is enough to overwhelm anyone. Many, unable to bite down and swallow their fears, the dream stays a dream.

Sophomore Brady Matherly did not let fear stop them. By using his ambition and passion, Matherly cheers competitively and for LHS, runs his own business, BAMtech.

“My competitive cheer career started when I was a lot younger,” Matherly said. “I found it to be a really interesting sport, the competitive side has a lot of really cool tricks and performances. On the school cheer side, after doing competitive cheer for a long time, I decided to join high school cheer, which was a great opportunity to get scholarships. Since I want to cheer in college, I decided to cheer in high school and get used to it.”

Besides cheer, Matherly started his own business. It all started when Matherly wanted to use his passion of computers and electronics to help those around him. This business offers computer and phone repairs cheaper than big-name companies.

“I thought I would take the research about electronics I’ve been doing and an idea I had and throw them together,” Matherly said. “I got to know more about what running a business is like and I got to make my own money.”

Creating his business was no easy task. From law to aesthetics, Matherly had to deal with everything relating to his business.

“I had to set up a business plan, which was edited throughout the process of creating the business,” Matherly said. “I had to create a name and design and make it aesthetically pleasing. I had to work on my legal documents. After that, I had to start advertising for my business. I was looking to put advertisements in small local newspapers, grow my business on social media, trying to shape it into something I can profit off of.”

Matherly’s business has experienced its successes and disappointments, but he resists the urge to give up. His passion for electronics can be easily found at school as well.

“I walked into the classroom one day and he had his phone completely disassembled on the desk,” history teacher Daniel Loomis said. “He brings positive energy to the classroom.”

Even with the demanding schedules of running a business and cheer, Matherly makes time for friends.

“He’ll FaceTime me and make sure I’m doing my homework and he’ll make sure I wake up for school,” sophomore Lexi Hurley-Gray said. “He’s always wanting to be there for you, he wants to make sure you’re on the right track. He’s really been there for me this year and I really appreciate him being around.”

Matherly accredits his accomplishments to his outgoing personality.

“[I put] myself out there in positions people normally wouldn’t, doing things in entrepreneurship that a lot of people wouldn’t risk,” Matherly said.