His fingers move in rhythm across the strings, as his hands seem to have a mind of their own. Up and down the strings his hands go working in perfect unison with each other to produce the wonderful strum of each note. Every strike of the guitar that Steve Catapano held in his hands wasn’t just another note being played, but was another emotion poured out. To him music isn’t just what you listen to on the radio; it is a relief and a getaway. Music has become a big part of Steve Catapano’s life especially here at Virginia Tech where he has taken on the rigorous task of studying Engineering, something he believes he was destined for.
Steve Catapano is from Cape Coral Florida, which is a 14-hour drive from VT and is about 10 times the size of Blacksburg. He has journeyed all the way up north to attend Virginia Tech, but absolutely loves it. Despite being a little too far for her liking, Steve’s Mom can see that Steve is happy where he is and that’s all that matters. He had made it a goal from his first visit to Tech to become a Hokie and as he looks back now he says, “I just knew this is where I wanted to spend my college years.” Having accomplished that goal, Steve does admit he misses home a little bit especially his Mom’s homemade lasagna. Despite this when professor Matthew Vollmer asked if anyone regretted his or her college or major decision, Steve had one thoughtless and immediate answer, “no.”
When walking around Steve blends in as your everyday college student. He strolls around campus usually wearing his black t-shirt and jeans with a VT baseball cap atop his head and Ipod headphones dangling from his ears. His girlfriend Tasha Jackson says you can usually pick out Steve as the one that is, “making people laugh whether it’s by making a joke or quoting (comedian) Jeff Dunham.” On the inside Steve is much different from your ordinary college student. He is a student with dreams in music and in engineering and almost seems destined to succeed. While most kids pick their school to attend based on what they might like or because it is close to home, Steve did neither. He chose VT with pure intentions on becoming an engineering student. Virginia Tech is currently one of the best engineering schools in the country and this is what attracted Steve. Many people start thinking about their college major in their senior year of high school or even up in till their sophomore year in college, but Steve’s love for engineering started far before he was even thinking about college.
There are not too many scenarios you hear about today where kids want to follow in the footsteps of their parents. This idea seems medieval to our generation as so often today younger kids are swaying away from the professions that their parents carry. This is what makes Steve Catapano unique; his dreams and plans for engineering stem from his father, who is currently living in New Jersey working for a defense company. If you ask him where his true passion for engineering came from he answers confidently, “my father.” Not only does he want to follow his Dad’s profession, but also his mother says, “His Dad is a big role model of his.” This love for engineering blossomed when Steve was only in middle school. It all came from a day where Steve attended college classes at his Dad’s alma mater, the University of Michigan. Mr. Catapano thought it would be a good idea for Steve to experience some college classes that he had taken. From this point on Steve began to understand what his father did for a living and became interested himself.
Since coming to Tech this fall, Steve has declared his major in Aerospace Engineering. As though the title doesn’t seem stressful enough, Steve plans on pursing a job at a “big engineering” firm or maybe even NASA, as he thinks “it would be cool to be able to say, I work for NASA.” With the great reward of studying engineering at such a prestigious school comes great stress and this is where Steve turns to what he considers his first love in life, music.
Steve didn’t always love music like he does now and he couldn’t always play as well as he does now either. Over 11 years ago when Steve started to learn how to play guitar “he hated every minute of it,” says his mother. He couldn’t get a grip on all the cords and “immediately wanted to quit,” she added. So she figured Steve should get a new instructor and sure enough that solved the problem. This teacher shared the same interest in Metal music as Steve did and actually made the music lessons entertaining week in and week out. Steve started to appreciate music more and actually listened to it for more than just a rhythm or a beat, but for a way to release emotion. Currently the stress that is generated from his studies here at school can be alleviated by one thing and one thing only, playing his guitar.
Steve currently has two guitars and being the bright minded engineer he is, he even built one by himself. When Steve is not frantically studying for his classes, which his mother says he procrastinates a little bit too much for, he is relaxing by playing his guitars or listening to music. The Heavy Metal music that he produces is what some consider to be dark and he agrees as he finds a lot more than just notes in his music. “Considering how angry and dark that gets you can see why it works as a stress relief,” says Steve referring to Heavy Metal. Tasha adds that, “When he gets stressed or has a lot on his mind he tends to go play his guitar for awhile before he goes back to what he was doing.” It seems that Steve has found a perfect median: a way to incorporate two things he loves in life so that he may practice one to help him succeed in the other.
Steve Catapano has come a long way from the young person sitting in on engineering classes at Michigan, who didn’t even like to play the guitar, to an aspiring young student at one of the nation’s top engineering schools. He now uses his music to stay right on beat with his studies. As Steve’s time here at Virginia Tech goes on, look for Steve to continue to prosper as both an engineer and as a musician. I’m sure that one day this combination of talent will find it's way into NASA or maybe even onto the radio.
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