Hi, my name is Michael Yowonske, better known as Mike, Mike Yo, or just Yo, to my close friends.
I was born and raised right here in Southwestern Pennsylvania, in a cozy little neighborhood in the
small town of Belle Vernon, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh. I attended Belle Vernon Area High
School where I graduated with highest honors on June 4, 2007. I was 16th in a class of about 240
with a cumulative GPA of around 4.1.
I am a pretty laid-back person; I enjoy hanging out with friends, playing video games and watching
movies. My greatest passion, though, lies with sports. I'm the kind of person who will turn on the TV
and watch a sport, basically no matter what it is. I played soccer for most of my life, and I recently
began playing deck hockey as well. And I always enjoy a pickup game of football, basketball, dodgeball
or even ultimate frisbee. On the other hand, I am a bit of a geek, as two of my biggest hobbies are
Scrabble and chess. I have even participated in a Scrabble tournament in which I placed 5th out of
130 players, many of whom were world-renowned experts, and won $400!
When I started to seriously think about where I wanted to go to college, the University of Pittsburgh
was at the top of my very short list. I have always been a DIEHARD fan of all Pittsburgh sports teams,
including the Panthers, and yes, even the perennial basement-dwelling Pirates. I absolutely love the
city; some of my best memories as a kid are of going to Pittsburgh to see Penguins, Steelers, and
Pirates games, and of visiting such places as the Carnegie Science Center and the Carnegie Museum. Now
that I live here, I get to experience these things all the time!
I am currently leaning towards pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering here at Pitt,
though I may decide to switch to another engineering major.