Mateo Rey is a senior swimmer, artist, and fashion icon here at Adams. Because of his talents in an array of categories, we decided that he merited an article to showcase it all.

Rey was born and spent the majority of his childhood in Pittsburg, where he went to three different elementary schools since his dad often changed jobs.  In 2013, Mateo’s father eventually got a job at Notre Dame, so he moved here to South Bend and attended Clay middle school for 7th and 8th grade. “Originally my friend and I decided to come to Adams because we didn’t want to go to Clay high school knowing everyone there. We heard about the IB program and decided that Adams would be the best fit.”

In middle school he developed a love for sports. “I always thought that fighting and wrestling seemed super fun, so I got into that and wrestled for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.” This soon stopped after breaking his nose in 8th grade, and decided that wasn’t the sport for him. He began playing football in 4th grade, and played up until sophomore year but, “I tore my ACL freshman year, so it made it not so fun anymore.” Even through injuries, Rey remembers his childhood as being full of art and sports.

Mateo picked up swimming for the first time his sophomore year, and states that “from the jump it was very difficult. It was one of the most mentally tough sports I’ve ever done. When you ever start something new you aren’t good, and it’s not enjoyable. At first, I would consider quitting a lot, but the team and the guys helped me get through it. After I got to know people and make friends it became really fun and they helped me get through it.” He also states that “I enjoy being apart of a sport where it’s all up to you, and you get quiet time with yourself. It’s a good thinking spot for me.” After hundreds of hours of practice and many evenings spent in the pool, Rey has discovered his skill for sprint freestyle events. All of his hard work made him deserving of his position as one of the team captains.

Rey gained interest in art growing up when he took his avid interest in airplanes and began to draw them. Rey adds, “my dad always pushed me to do something in art, I loved drawing and drew all the time.” Mateo’s love for art evolved into a love for fashion.

The fashion field is one of his passions. He’s derived inspiration from different models and artists, such as Matthew W. Williams, Lucas Zabot and Virgil Abloh. “I like the mixture of photography and fashion,” Rey states. “…and I would love to go into something to do with fashion because I have a lot of ideas of my own. The only problem is that it’s difficult to create a name for yourself unless you already have a strong background of fashion. But I would definitely continue it as a hobby.”

In school, one of Rey’s favorite classes is philosophy with Weaver. “He [Weaver] is a super fun dude, which makes the class exciting. Not to mention philosophy is a super interesting subject. It’s helped me work on my writing skills and, once you begin learning about existentialism you start to learn about where you are in the world and it helps you understand yourself as well.”

Along with having a full IB schedule and swimming, he also participates in NHS and created his own club along with one of his peers, Zach Fernandez, called Masters of Arts and Culture (MAC). Rey explains that he really enjoys NHS because “you come to understand where you are in South Bend and that our town is much bigger than we think. It’s eye opening.” As far as MAC goes, he enjoys having an environment where him and Fernandez can share and discuss their own interests (music and fashion) and hope that others will do the same. (Currently MAC has been paused due to busy schedules, but it will start up again soon so be sure to join). Outside of school Mateo has recently been filling his time with an art and fashion brand that him and his friends have created.

As for college and beyond Mateo plans on attending Loyola University at Chicago next fall. “The majors I signed up for are Biology Pre-med and Philosophy,” but he talked about switching them around and possibly “getting more artsy with it,” such as, “adding visual arts or something along those lines.” In the future he plans and wants to get into psychiatric medicine, because of his interest in the human body and how it works.