About > Birth through High School

Scott Craig Savett, the first-born child of Steven and Fredda Savett, was born on May 17, 1972 in Philadelphia. I spent my first few years in Philadelphia until 1975 when my family moved to Lafayette Hill, PA, located right outside Philadelphia in Montgomery County. On October 18, 1975, my only brother, Adam, was born.

I spent my formative years glued to the TV watching Sesame Street, The Muppets, The Pink Panther, and Woody Woodpecker. I also enjoyed building model trains (HO scale), playing little league, and being a Cub Scout.

At the Colonial Middle School I became involved our school's newspaper, The Drumbeat. Having a yearning for music, I also sang in the choir and started playing the French horn. Between stage band, jazz band, chorus, and swing choir, I certainly got my fill of music. I was also involved in Student Council, which seemed like a worthwhile thing to do at the time.

From a young age I was fascinated with computers. My first experience with programming was the venerable TSR-80 in middle school. A year later I was using a Commodore PET. It was not long after that when our family bought a Commodore 64, which was actually my first computer. Compared to today's gigahertz beasts, it's amazing how far we've come in just the last 15 years of computing!

I attended Plymouth-Whitemarsh High school, located in Plymouth Meeting, PA. Chemistry was probably my best course at PW, and was likely a deciding factor for me to become a chemist. (Thank you for the inspiration, Mr. Rea!) I was also involved in Physics Olympics and Science Olympiad, which were always fun.

As an honors student and member of the National Honor Society, I worked hard but also enjoyed extracurricular activities. I was involved in dramatic presentations, both behind the scenes as stage crew and also as an actor. I also spent a good deal of my time at the high school's cable TV station, CITV, where I directed and produced shows. I showed my leadership skills as a Hugh O'Brian Youth (HOBY) Leadership Seminar participant in 1988. I was also the women's varsity lacrosse manager in 1989 and 1990.

World travel came early for me. In the summer of 1988 I was involved with the People to People High School Student Exchange Program. As a student ambassador, I spent 10 thrilling days in New Zealand, and two amazing weeks in Australia. One of my favorite places in Australia was Vivonne Bay Outdoor Education Centre on Kangaroo Island. My adventures as a student ambassador are probably some of the most memorable days of my life.