I am home

During the COVID lockdown, musician Matthew Scharpf ’92 decided to use his musical talents to help raise money for various causes (including One Day, One Dayton). He’d perform a weekly solo acoustic show online.

“Of course, Flyers showed up big — catching up in the chat window, sharing jokes and making requests,” he said. “It took me right back to my favorite UD memories … late-night singalongs on our porch at 442 Lowes.” 

After several months, the Flyers audience started urging Scharpf to write a song about UD. Fellow alum Mimi Murray Meagher ’93 started a GoFundMe campaign for the song and dozens of alumni contributed, eager to hear Scharpf’s finished tune.

“These generous Flyers inspired me to write a song about an alum returning to UD's campus. It’s called "I am Home (Only Flyers understand),” he said.

The song debuted on Spotify last October.

One verse reads:

We learned more on a shabby porch in a few weekends, 
Sharing cheap beer, laughing, making friends …
Only Flyers understand.

“I just wanted to share what connects us so strongly to UD via the experiences that shaped so many of us,” he said.

Scharpf hopes one day he’ll be sitting in UD Arena for a basketball game as the crowd sings “I am home” all together.

A version of this article appears in print in the Spring 2025 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 52. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE