John Bitsura

1. Briefly tell us about your background: where did you grow up, where did you go to school, or what brought you to Venture Outdoors?  I’m your archetypical scramble of Pittsburgh suburbs (Penn Hills and Burrell) and local-ish colleges (Seton Hill). I’m coming to VO by way of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and I left dinosaurs to have a big old adventure here with a new team making big impacts.

2. Describe your role at Venture Outdoors in 10 words or less.  I am still new….hopefully making everyone else’s job easier?

3. If you had to pick only one recreational activity to practice for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?  Swimming! If I had a me-sized Lilypad I’m pretty confident I could live out the rest of my days happily as some sort of frog hermit man.

4. What are your top five favorite outdoors/travel destinations?   Seceda in Italy! Castle Ehrenburg in Austria! Lake Ebsee in Germany! The Morrison Formation in Colorado! …I’ve played too much Pokemon Go in North Park to deny that part of my past now.

5. What is your favorite forest/camping snack?  I like a good hot dog. Cause like, we can all pretend we can make it through the day on smores and trail mix, but when it’s time to have an actual meal outside, that’s when you know you’re in this for the long run, and it tastes amazing.

6. Name three people in history (dead or alive) with whom you would want to take on a Venture Outdoors program of your choice.  Henry Cavill (so we can talk nerd stuff the entire time) Alexander Hamilton (would play him the soundtrack to the musical in an outdoor environment where he doesn’t have to worry about the culture shock of modern society too much) Teddy Roosevelt so that he can say a bunch of inspiring stuff about national parks and outdoor education to get Hamilton and I all pumped up.

7. What is the earliest memory you have of being outside? Aw, I really like this question. Playing tag with my little brother and my cousin in our backyard and rolling around in the grass.

8. Any hidden talents?  People talk about how I’m good at typing without looking at the screen/keyboard while still holding a conversation, and since I get to use this one regularly, probably that.

9. What is your favorite song (or album) right now?  Disco in the Panic Room by Bug Hunter.

Accepting that the new guy doesn’t have to immediately be useful, but that doesn’t make me useless.