My name is Michael Thaddeus Mondak (born on July 10, 1985 in Portsmouth, Virginia). I currently attend Penn State Shenango in Sharon, Pennsylvania. My father, Richard, (Slovak-Italian descent) an alumnus of The George Washington University and the University of Nebraska, served in the United States Navy for 20 years, serving in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1990 during the first Gulf War, in which he served aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). He is currently a Surgical Physician Assistant with the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My mother, Katherine Adrian Mondak, nee Zaurski (Polish-Hungarian descent), who attended what is now Penn State Greater Allegheny, is a homemaker and Craft Artisan.