Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Barack Obama and many other historical figures share quite a bit in common: courage, leadership and core values. But what they don’t have is a Twitch channel. Senior Matthew Minnis is one of the most successful Twitch streamers in the world. Going by the handle MboneHD, his channel has almost 37,000 subscribers and draws the attention of more than 87,000 people on average. Since September 2015, Matthew has been gaining the attention of various people from around the world almost every night, competing against some of the world’s top gamers, talking about world issues, but most of all enjoying his favorite video games.

“I was spending way too much time playing Xbox and wanted to do something productive with all that time,” Matthew said. “Having thousands of people watching a day is a pretty cool thing.”

Matthew’s favorite game to play during streams is FIFA 17. In the game, he is one of the top players in the world and often plays in marquee matchups against other top FIFA players. His priceless reactions and hilarious antics make him a joy to watch for his many Twitch followers and has lead to Matthew receiving many awards and accolades during various gaming conventions around the country. His streaming is mostly meant to appeal to his peers, high schoolers and young college students who can associate with Matthew.

“Most of my audience is teenagers,” Matthew said. “I would say that’s probably because of my age and the fact teenagers feel like they can relate.”

Although Matthew won’t be attending Westlake next year, he still plans to continue streaming during college, where he hopes to continue putting up streams at the same rate he does currently.

“I will be living alone, so I won’t annoy any roommates,” Matthew said. “It is more than just a hobby for me now, it’s kind of a passion, so I am really trying to keep it going.”

Matthew, in addition to doing something that he loves, also makes money off of streams as well, most coming in the form of donations and subscriptions from Twitch users. Per stream, Matthew’s profits can range anywhere from $8-$100.

“It’s really awesome that I get to get paid doing what I like to do,” Matthew said. “I know that a lot of people don’t get an opportunity to get money doing what they love at the same time. I’m glad that I get to be an exception.”

Matthew is one of the most successful Twitch streamers for his age group. Not many young men get to choose a career path that matches their interests and ideas so well, and Matthew is a shining example of what most teenagers are striving to become.

“Watching Matthew be able to do what he loves really inspires me,” senior Michael Abide said. “He’s just a high-school kid, and he’s already one of the top Twitch streamers in the whole world. It’s fun to see him pursuing his dreams at such a young age.”