Christopher J. Matthews is originally a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and came to the Columbus by way of Fort Benning. He is a former student of The New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA) and a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, where he majored in Art, and minored in Mass Communications. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Art from Xavier University of Louisiana in 1994. In 1995 Christopher portrayed prizefighter Husky Miller in a Xavier University/community production of Oscar Hammerstein's 1955 Broadway musical, "Carmen Jones" at Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans. He is a writer, and a visual artist who specializes in Painting and Drawing, a U.S. Army veteran, and a reservist with the U.S. Air Force. He earned Master's degrees in Education at Columbus State University in 2006 and 2008 respectively, with concentrations in Art Education and English Language Arts. He earned his Education Specialist degree in English from Columbus State University in 2015, and originally taught English Composition 1101 during the fall of 2015 and spring of 2016.