Green Room
Futures
Our Mission & vision
A note from the Director, Matt Wade
As an avid surfer, I can't help but feel that you can experience a lot of life's ups and downs, challenges and triumphs in a single session out in the water. The sport sends you on a lifelong pursuit of for amazing waves, with the ultimate payoff being a gnarly barrel... which in the surfing world is known as standing in the Green Room. You never give yourself the chance to experience that payoff unless you're willing to put your fears aside and 'send it!'
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Our mission at Green Room Futures is to inspire young adults to 'send it' in life! Take on life's challenges head on with a supported sense of purpose and direction, allowing your passions and aspirations to form a wave that you can ride to success in life through education and experience abroad. The US college system serves as a perfect platform for students and student-athletes to discover their true individual identity, allowing everyone the opportunity to pursue their passions while at the same time earning an educational qualification and personal growth that will stick with them forever.
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Our vision is to provide a level of service and support to every client that extends far beyond simply finding a student a college opportunity and/or scholarship. To us, this process is about establishing and growing genuine relationships with students and their families to inspire, mentor, educate, advise, assist, and motivate students on their unique journeys toward self-actualization in life. We are confident that there is not another company in this industry anywhere in the world who does things quite like we do; holistic, personalised to you in every way, with professionalism and integrity guiding our every move.
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Your time is now, and we can't wait to help shape your dreams into a reality far bigger than you can imagine!
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Your Green Room Futures team
Matt Wade
Founder and Company Director
I am a native of Dallas, Texas and from 2003-2010 was a decorated multi-sport collegiate athlete, and collegiate coach prior to settling permanently in Australia in 2011. I am an eternal optimist with infectiously positive energy and a genuine passion for what I do. I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to make such significant impacts on the lives of aspiring young adults and their families.
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In early 2012, I began an incredibly successful 9.5-year stint with the company IAM 360, which ceased in 2021 when the organisation made the decision to shift their operations overseas. As the Director of Prospect Management for IAM 360, I assisted more than 5,000 aspiring international students and student-athletes to secure opportunities from colleges and universities in the USA. I have always maintained a 100% success rate with my clients, and look forward to continuing this level of success with my own company, Green Room Futures!
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I reside in Ocean Grove, Victoria with my beautiful wife Brooke and our gorgeous son Hudson. Family is everything to me, and I consider every colleague and prospect that I work with to be an extension of that family. We all work collectively to shape your dreams into reality, and our shared success is what inspires the next generation to follow in our footsteps.
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Life is too short to sit back and imagine what could have been, so make the absolute most of every day that you are gifted! There is no time like the present to push yourself to do, and be more than you were yesterday!
Jacob Richards
General Manager
I grew up in Newcastle and completed my high school years in Townsville. In 2008 I had the chance to learn more about the US College pathway at an event that was being held in Townsville. Little did I know this event would change my life forever. I took a chance and left Australia in 2010 to study and compete in the US college system. Growing up on the coast in Australia where it is hot year-round, I figured I would go somewhere different, challenge myself and step outside of my comfort zone. So, I ended up in the middle of nowhere in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Middle of the country, nowhere near an ocean where its freezing cold for a number of months. I remember flying into Fort Dodge on a pull start propeller plane and landing in a cornfield. “Where the hell am I”.
After arriving on campus, meeting my roommates and a few training sessions, there was no way I was coming home before my four years came to an end. I did two years at Iowa Central Community College, then I transferred to AIB College of Business in Des Moines, Iowa. My first two years were incredible, living the small-town life. I travelled to many parts of the US over my first two years. I road tripped to Florida, travelled all around the Midwest to compete, Chicago, St Louis, Minneapolis, and so on.
After moving to Des Moines for my 3rd and 4th year I realised how quickly my time was coming to an end in the US so I stayed for my last two summers and worked and travelled to see as much as I could. In 2014 I graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration with a minor in financial services. I finished with a 3.5 GPA and was the first in school history to receive the Daktronics NAIA Scholar-Athlete award that recognises excellence in the classroom with an academic standing of a 3.5 or higher cumulative GPA for multiple years. Unfortunately, my two college teams never had the chance to compete at the national tournament, but we did make the conference finals every year.
My four years in the states were incredible. I met some of my closest friends, travelled the country for leisure and sport, graduated with a college degree and had the best time whilst doing so. Since graduating in 2014 I have been helping students from around the world find opportunities to do the same thing as I did in the USA. It’s a pathway I cannot recommend highly enough to all aspiring young students.
Zach allevi
Community Engagement Officer, South Australia
From humble beginnings as an Adelaide boy, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to the US and live my dream of being a collegiate athlete. I spent all four years in close proximity to Chicago, Illinois, playing for two well established programs at Parkland College and the University of Illinois in Springfield, as well as studying and travelling all over the country. In that time I was awarded Team, Conference, Region and even All-American awards, and completed my collegiate career with a Bachelors Degree with Honours.
I gained so much from my time in the USA!! From independence as a 19 year old living in a foreign place, to learning crucial life lessons and responsibilities, how to handle adversity, as well as finishing it all off with a debt-free education that has set me up long term. The teammates and people I met along the journey are all people who I now consider close friends and family that I will stay in touch with forever. It's an experience that I wouldn't trade for the world, and something I feel is impossible to put a monetary value on!
I've recently returned home to Australia and have been given the opportunity to work with Green Room Futures, as Founder and Company Director Matt Wade was such an influential part of facilitating my own journey. It's an honour to be a part of this amazing organisation, as my life changed dramatically from my decision to play and study in the US at the collegiate level. I want to help give other aspiring students and student-athletes the opportunity and assistance to have their own unique and wonderful experience just as I did!
Marc Hill
Community Engagement Officer, Western Australia
After being unsure what path to take after finishing High School in 2008, I was given the opportunity to go and study whilst playing collegiate football (soccer) in the USA; something, that, at the time was a completely new idea to me. Little did I know, the experience would shape the man I am today, as I was able to turn my dreams into a reality that I am still living to this day!
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In 2010 I packed my bags and flew off into the virtually unknown. The following 5 years would be the most enjoyable, rewarding and surreal experiences of my young life. I not only became a better/stronger footballer, I made friends that will last a lifetime and shared experiences that I’ll never forget.
In hindsight, it was the best decision I ever could have made. In simple terms, I left home a boy and returned a man. Being a collegiate Athlete enabled me to go and study at a fraction of the price due to all the scholarship opportunities for both academics and sport that are available in the USA. As I am looking back now to my experience compared with what most of my friends chose to do, I feel I gained far more in my experience than what I would have gained by not going abroad.
After travelling throughout Europe, I have recently returned to Perth, Western Australia and now have the opportunity to work with Matt Wade and Green Room Futures (who had a large part in getting me over to the USA initially). I couldn’t be happier and more excited to do my part in helping this Program grow, ultimately helping others share in the same life-changing experiences that I was so blessed to have.