Hello everyone! My name is Matt Fletcher, and I am studying Industrial Engineering in the Swanson School of Engineering. I’m originally from Chicago, Illinois, but have definitely found my home at Pitt. This summer, I will be traveling to Italy for the Plus 3 Program to focus on textiles and supply chain. As an IE, supply chain management is a big part of my future, so this program is very exciting to me.

In order to prepare for this trip, a group of twenty students, including myself, have been meeting every Sunday for the past few weeks. In these meetings, we have been discussing different aspects of supply chain and the issues/successes of different fashion supply chains, as well as going over Italian culture and some of the companies we will be visiting abroad. In my opinion, these meetings are very important. Not only are we getting acquainted with those we are traveling with, but we are also preparing for what we may expect while in Italy. This will help with the culture shock of being in a foreign country by giving us the appropriate behaviors for the Italian culture, as well as letting us practice our mispronunciations of the Italian language.

I am very excited for the experience, and I don’t think there could be a better group of people accompanying me there. Less than a month until take off…stay tuned!

-Matt Fletcher