HSCC Testimonial: Pentao 'Mac' Teng (Greater Tampa Bay)

BDPA leaders often talk about our efforts to advance the careers of our members from 'the classroom to the boardroom'. I am pleased that BETF is able to collect and share insights from some of the remarkable HSCC alumni around the country ... including Pengtao ‘Mac’ Teng who began training with BDPA Greater Tampa Bay chapter while he was still in middle school.

Mac was a member of the national team representing Tampa FL in 2002-2003, 2005 and 2007. The 2003 and 2005 teams both finished in 4th place at the national competition.

We asked Mac to share his thoughts on the HSCC experience. Here is what he wrote:

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I can say for a fact that BDPA changed my life. Prior to my experience with the Tampa Bay chapter, I was an ordinary middle school student who was complacent with what I was learning in class. I did not know anything about computers, much less how to make a web page, and my parents were not in the IT industry. My BDPA instructors taught me things I never would have learned in school, and their immense professionalism made a huge impact on my personal development. My BDPA training taught me to think like an engineer, and for a young kid, being able to see your ideas materialize in a web page was mind-blowing.

Going to the national competitions, at the time, was a cool and fun experience. Now that I am in college, I have come to realize how extraordinary it was that I, as a rising high-school student, was able to meet leaders of industry at a professional conference My experience with the high school computer competition is an opportunity that many of my peers would fight tooth and nail for today. Attending the various national BDPA conferences and competing in the national competitions allowed me to see that nothing is impossible through hard work and a little bit of luck.

BDPA has not only developed my academic interests -- I am studying engineering at Penn -- but also made me realize the importance of community and of giving back. I remind myself that I am who I am today because of all the efforts of other people who devoted time and energy for my benefit, and I try to do the same by reaching out in my spare time to be a resource for young students through volunteer organizations.

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I look forward to watching the upward career path of Mac Teng. My hope is he becomes a multi-millionaire and helps us with donations to support our scholarship programs in the future. Of course, I hope that some of you are inspired to make a secure online donation right now! What say u?