Matthew Marchewka
Wearing only a shirt in the cold but sunny March day, Matthew Marchewka can be classified as a typical Mainer. However, Matthew has Polish roots and was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He chose UMaine because he has relatives in Maine and also saw it as an opportunity to get away from his hometown.
He describes himself as different and intriguing and his various interests are the proof for that. He used to swim back in high school, he can play the guitar and the piano, and also tries to learn Polish. He always tries to think outside of the box and approach things from a different angle.
Matthew is majoring in New Media with a minor in video and his main interests include graphic design, web design, night time photography, and film and video. He says he enjoys the major because it is very broad and students have the freedom to choose what to do inside the major and find their own focus. He specializes in web design and likes programming with HTML and JavaScript.
“It is interesting how the lens can capture more than the human eyes,” Matthew says.
His capstone project revolves around the craft beer culture in the US. He is building a website for craft breweries where people can go to and find information about the different breweries, what events they have, and learn more in general about the brewing culture in the US.
The inspiration for the project came from Matthew’s personal interest and experience with brewing. For the past 5-6 years, he has been home-brewing with his father and they are just getting into winemaking as well. He has experience with brewing American wheat beer and dark beer aged in a bourbon barrel.
He is currently focusing on breweries in the Orono and Bangor area but the website can expand further in the future. Users will be able to find out if breweries have tours or their own bars and where to find them.
Matthew is considering enlisting in the army after graduation or working close to his family in Wisconsin. If he decides to stay in Maine, he’d like to land a web development job.