The urge to move forward more quickly with her studies didn't emerge until the summer after her sophomore year - the summer after she learned she had a cancerous tumor growing in her brain.
The first sign of trouble appeared as a recurring pain in her eyes.
A neurologist recommended Matthaes undergo a magnetic resonance imaging test.
"That was when they discovered the tumor," she said.
It was February 2003.
In March, doctors performed a nine-hour surgery to take a biopsy of the tumor, which confirmed she had a rare type of childhood cancer. From April to June, the teen traveled to Salt Lake City for radiation treatments, in an attempt to shrink the optic glioma, or low-grade astrocytoma.
Those months were tough, she said. She missed a lot of school and had to make up a lot of class time. Her eyes hurt even more than before, and now the pain was accompanied by nausea and headaches.
The tumor didn't shrink.
"We're waiting now to see if it starts growing rapidly," she said, during an interview last week. "They don't want to risk surgery unless they absolutely have to."
Surgery would mean complete blindness. Right now, Matthaes is still able to make out colors and shapes. She can read text if letters are at least 2 inches tall, a format available to her at school and home if she uses assistive technology and software that displays the magnified images on a large screen.
She began to lose her regular vision in October 2003.
The worst part about it, she said, is she loves to read.
"I used to read a book a day," she said. "For a while, it was really hard."
In fall, she began learning Braille, listening to books on tape and using a cane. The audiotapes will never replace reading, but she has become more accustomed to them, she said. She's also continuing to work at speeding up her Braille reading.
"I really enjoy learning," she said. "I've always enjoyed it since I was little."
On Saturday, Matthaes will graduate from Big Sky High School with hopes for a bright future.
Next week, she leaves for a summer program where she'll be blindfolded and taught all the skills needed to live independently as a person with a visual impairment.
Next fall, she heads for the University of Portland in Oregon, determined to major in education and Spanish and minor in theology. She wants to teach high school Spanish.
"First of all, graduating in three years with a 3.75 grade-point average is no small feat," said Jim Lodge, Big Sky High School counselor. "Neither is being accepted into the University of Portland."
Add to that the challenges she's faced in dealing with her cancer and loss of sight.
"She has dealt with all of it in the most professional way you can imagine," Lodge said. "She just wanted to deal with each challenge like another hurdle to clear. ... Out of my 35 years in education, I will always remember her."
Matthaes doesn't complain. She's just hopeful the tumor doesn't grow. While the most disappointing aspect of losing her sight is not being able to read, the most difficult part of the cancer is the uncertainty - not knowing if or when the tumor will grow.
Throughout the past year and a half, she's drawn her strength from three key sources: her mother, her former Big Sky teacher John Fisher and God.
Matthaes' mother died of kidney cancer when Matthaes was 8 years old. Doctors predicted the woman would live six weeks, but she proved them wrong and battled the disease for another 4 1/2 months.
"She was an inspiration," Matthaes said.
Fisher fought and succumbed to a rare form of cancer in October 2003. He was 34. In Fisher, Matthaes found someone who understood firsthand what she was going through.
"Every day we'd talk to each other about our different experiences," she said. "I could be with someone else who knew what was going on."
Fisher, who taught government and history at Big Sky, shared with her his love for life and a desire to live it to its fullest. The day he died he taught class.
Jean Croxton, Matthaes' English teacher, took over as the teen's mentor for her senior project after Fisher passed away.
"He really did inspire her," Croxton said. "She has written some lovely poems about him. I think he gave her strength. That is the thing about Danielle - she has great strength."
Matthaes found similar comfort last summer when she went to Camp Mak-A-Dream to spend time with other teens grappling with cancer, and last March when she attended a camp in Colorado to meet others coping with visual impairments.
Her senior project, a graduation requirement at Big Sky High School, incorporated her illness. Matthaes did in-depth research of her cancer and included her study of Braille and field experiences at the Colorado camp.
"She also volunteers at Community Hospital, and that wasn't even part of the senior project," Croxton said. "She just did it. She got used to seeing all the kids who were in the hospital when she was going through her tests and began spending more time with them."
Croxton is impressed by Matthaes' courage and personal strength.
"She just doesn't seem to be daunted by any challenge. I've taught for a lot of years and never seen anything quite like it before," she said.
Many of Matthaes' classmates also have witnessed that quiet strength and recently acknowledged it with a gift. Each year, Croxton's class makes a thousand paper cranes to send to Hiroshima, Japan, with a wish for peace. This year, the class made and gave the cranes to Matthaes, with a wish for luck.
"She is just so brave. Everyone feels that way," Croxton said. "And she never complains."
"It just meant so much to me, just to know how much everybody really cared," Matthaes said, the day after receiving the gift. "It was really nice."
As a teacher, Croxton is amazed that Matthaes has continued to turn in top-notch schoolwork throughout her ordeal.
"There is never a question with her that her work isn't going to be excellent. That's just how she does things," she said.
Matthaes also isn't self-involved.
"She always talks about the people in the stories and novels she reads and considers their problems. She's not self-centeredly focused on this thing that sort of got her in its grip," Croxton said. "There are many things about her that are amazing."
For Matthaes, pursuing her education keeps her mind off her illness.
"It keeps me busy," she said.
She's anxiously awaiting college, where she plans to live in the dorms.
As far as her prognosis, she'll continue to visit a radiation oncologist every three to six months to check to see if the tumor has grown. She still suffers frequent headaches, but they won't stop her from pursuing her goals.
"She just doesn't give up," said Troy Matthaes Jr., Danielle's brother, a Big Sky senior who will graduate alongside his sister Saturday.
"She just keeps on going no matter what the challenges," he said. "I think it's pretty cool we'll both be graduating the same year. I'm really proud of her."
For Matthaes, Saturday marks the achievement of one of her main goals and opens a new door to the future.
"I can step forward in life," she said. "I'm one step closer to my dream of being independent and in the professional world."
Reporter Jane Rider can be reached at 523-5298 or at jrider@missoulian.com
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