Friends Thomas Petry, Miguel Scott and Steff Vasem posing with John Maddog during #fisl12, 2011.

We contacted the first participant to have his registration confirmed for #fisl13. Miguel Mendes Scott is 16 years old and is both a high school and a tech school student in Ivoti, a city in the inner state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Miguel, who first heard of fisl last year, because of a school promotion, hushed to take advantage from the discounted registrations for students - R$ 100,00 up to apr/30, and R$ 50,00 for students.

He says his participation in the event was paramount in his formation:

"I found it real cool and registered to go to #fisl13. I attended last year knowing very little about Free Software, but when I returned my idea was just so different. My knowledge was greater, and so was my interest."

He says at fisl he met an ideology he shared, the one of free and shared knowledge, and ever since Free Software has become a growing interest.

"After the event, I went after other subjects, and even found out that I was a Free Software user and advocated - and I still do - what many people think, in respect to Free Software and LINUX."

Among the subjects that appeal to Miguel are security, general programming - "more specifically C#, Java, Python, Perl, Ruby, HTML5" - besides subjects typical of systems admins, like configuration and command line.

Miguel and his friends are returning to #fisl13 this year to keep learning and integrating themselves to the community. And he has already demanded speeches and themes he wants to learn more about: "security, general programming, linux programming for android and cloud hosting".

Many of Miguel´s suggestions are already satisfied in the programme´s tracks. The others were sent to the Programme Workgroup, a group that manages the preparation of the event´s agenda. 

Miguel will certainly learn a lot again. And how about you discovering Free software as well? :)