Interview Classmate Story

Hiking 11 miles a day with a large backpack on in a remote area of the Earth with no connection to friends or family doesn’t seem like an ideal vacation now does it? Although it may not be considered amusing or pleasurable in a variety of ways, a wilderness program in Georgia significantly altered Kate Pintauro and her outlook on life.
Kate Pintauro, the 5’6” dark haired girl, is from Westchester, NY and is currently a freshman communication major at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. She is also interested in the fields of journalism and English.
Feeding off her interests within the field of communication, the 18 year old has done some fascinating things like go behind the scenes in an ABC studio. She is hoping to get an internship with NBC sometime in the near future.
Addressing some of her hobbies, Kate loves sports, especially tennis, basketball, and soccer. She is on the tennis team here at Wittenberg University and loves staying busy with that. She also enjoys fishing with her dad, waterskiing, tubing, and goes into New York City every weekend. She loves the warm weather and has a Time Share in Saint Martin where she spends time with friends and family each year.
These all sound like great aspects of her life but it hasn’t been the easiest road for Kate to get where she is today. Like stated earlier, Kate had to attend a wilderness program in Georgia. She did this when she was 15 years old for 8 weeks.
She attended this program because she was a bit irresponsible in her young teenage years. She didn’t really take her academics seriously and skipped class often. In Georgia though, she learned things like basic survival skills and communicating with people around her. She realized a lot about herself and made it clear to herself that she was going to change.
After the wilderness program, she attended HIDE, Woodstock Boarding School. This school was fairly strict as there were things like a dress code but it really helped Kate become even more focused and get her priorities straight.
Kate applied to a number of schools including Florida Sothern, Roanoke, Lynchburg, and Miami of Ohio, but her choice of Wittenberg has truly proved to have a positive impact on her so far. She knew it was right for her when she first stepped foot on campus and since that moment only good has come about for her.
She stated, “it really taught me a lot about myself” in reference to the Wilderness program. Now her priorities are straight and she really understands the things that are important to her. This wilderness program was a life altering experience for Kate and a building block for shaping her in becoming a much more responsible and conscientious individual with much potential in the future.