Ni Hao everyone! My name is Jon Nemtuda. I’m currently a finance major at the University of Pittsburgh and I will be traveling to China for the Plus 3 program! I grew up in York, Pennsylvania … so basically in the middle of nowhere. Growing up in such a suburban/rural area of the country, I was not able to experience many different cultures as you might if you lived in a city. I am extremely excited to go somewhere where the culture is so fundamentally different from my own.
In York, I graduated from Central York High School. I played various sports growing up such as baseball, basketball and football. Football is the sport I pursued at the school level and I played through my 10th grade year. At that point, I chose to leave football and became a dual enrollment student which allowed me to take college level classes where I earned the credits that I transferred to Pitt and they also counted for my high school credits. I knew as early as 6th grade that I wanted to attend Pitt, even wrote about it in a poem. Part of the reason I chose to start taking college classes is because I wanted to do all I could to better my chances to attend Pitt. I first thought I wanted to be an engineer: however, after taking a CAD class, decided it was not for me. It was at the end of 11th grade that I decided on business.
I actually attribute my realization that business, and in particular finance, was the right choice for me through playing video games with an economy involved that I had to build. Playing through these simulations where I needed to find a way to make and manage money was exciting to me and made me realize that this would be a career I would really enjoy! I also started finding out more about the stock market and that has really created an interest as well. I have not started investing at this point, but would like to start in the near future, possibly through an organization at Pitt.
Throughout my life, I have done my fair share of traveling both internationally and domestic. Most of the international destinations have been with Hispanic/Latin American cultures. I have traveled to Canada, Panama, Mexico (Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta), as well as many U.S. destinations. I have traveled up and down the entire west coast, many places in the eastern half of the U.S. and Hawaii which, even though a U.S. destination, has a lot of culture.
I am extremely excited to be going to China because I think it’s going to be really interesting and a great learning experience to immerse myself in a culture that is so different from our own. I am especially excited to go to Xi’an because I feel it is going to be the most culturally rich location that we will be visiting while in China. Unfortunately, we will be there for the shortest amount of time. I feel that by going on this Plus 3 trip to China, I will really grow as a person and an adult. I will be able to experience new things that I may not have been able to without this opportunity. My cultural awareness will grow and I’ll gain more experience within a professional setting. I am really looking forward to participating in all the events scheduled with my peers since opportunities to create memories like this are few and far between!