Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Participant: Michael Pittek


My name is Michael Pittek, a seventeen year old senior at City Charter High School. I enjoy playing video games on the Xbox 360 and PC. I also like to ice skate and play hockey with my friends. Last winter I worked for an outdoor ice skating rink located in downtown Pittsburgh, it was a pretty awesome job. Airsoft is also another one of my hobbies. It is similar to paintball without the paint and more realistic looking weapons; my friends and I play at Steel City Airsoft about once a month. Steel City Airsoft is an indoor field located just outside of Pittsburgh. This fall I will be attending Penn State’s Erie campus and be working toward a bachelor’s degree in engineering. I am the first one in my household that will be attending college and I look forward to it.

I attend City Charter High School and have been enrolled in this trimester-based high school since my 9th grade year. There is a very professional atmosphere and all students are required to follow a business casual dress code. In addition to focusing on business and professionalism the school is also very technological at its core. The school provides laptops to its students with many types of educational software for the students to learn with. City High also gives students the opportunity to earn Microsoft certifications by mastering Microsoft software. I have been fortunate enough to earn multiple certifications as well as a Microsoft Master Certification. The school also has an internship program that allows students to intern at a professional level at many different locations around the city. I was privileged enough to acquire an internship at Schell Games, one of the very few video game making companies in the city. It was an amazing opportunity and the atmosphere was great and suited me perfectly.

I am going on this trip to learn about another culture and see what it is like in another country. The trip will be a unique experience for me and will allow me to test myself and my skills. I am also looking forward to visiting the city of San José and learning more about the Costa Rican people and the culture of their capitol. Spending a week in the rain forest is another thing that I am really looking forward to doing. Viewing the waterfalls and the volcanoes of the area will be an amazing experience that I will never forget. Visiting the only ocean side national park in the world will also be a very cool experience. I do not have many concerns for this trip but there is a few including a very old bridge that is suspended very high over a river, the only other way to get across the river is by taking a long hike around it. I also hear that the bugs in Costa Rica are very large in size. Those are a few things that concern me about this trip but they are nothing that I will not be able to overcome. I’m positive that this is going to be an amazing trip for everyone. I hope to gain a lot from this trip. We are going to visit a high school in Costa Rica and I hope to learn more about the kids there and compare our similarities and learn new things and meet new people. We will also be helping out a small village and I think that the hard work will be worth it and in the end it will feel satisfying to help people who need it. This trip should be an exciting one and I am looking forward to it.

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