Assignment 1: Who I am, FIJI, and a Ride on the Blogabus

Blog Assignment #1

Current Song: "Lil' Freak" - Usher ft. Nicki Minaj

Location: Computer Chair, interwebs

"Pshhtttt!" the sound of the air brake on the Blogabus fills the air. I hop off, a dollar shorter, but deep in thought. "Who am I? How did I get here? What in the world compelled me to take a class like this? Is the lantern story about Rich Rod getting fired true or are have they not heard the reports that Michigan was denying his firing yesterday?"

To respond to our first assignment, I'm going to take you all with me on a bit of self reflection. This is my first blog ever, and I can honestly say I never really expected to find myself a) blogging b) in a class about social change and leadership in the Greek community. Well that's enough babbling for the introduction, let’s get down to business.

Current Song: "More" - Usher

My name, as most of you know, is Timothy James Liutkus; or if you would like to include my confirmation name, Timothy James Patrick Liutkus. Perhaps we can give one of those to Danny Tran because he really needs a middle name. Anyways, I was born a month early, May 20, 1989 to my dad and mom - Tom and Terri Liutkus. I had the unique distinction of freaking out my parents because skipping that last month in utero resulted in my being born with a hole in one lung and a hernia. Fortunately it wasn't too serious, and a week and a couple operations later I was home. Home was North Royalton - a "south side" (represent!) suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.

I had a great childhood. Living on a circle in a development, there were plenty of kids around my age to play with. When the neighborhood kids weren't around, I could always count on a growing number of cousins to be over my house. My Grandma would watch the lot of us at my house while our parents were at work. By the time we were old enough to be trusted alone, my Grandma would be watching some 7 kids! How she did it, I will never know, but I digress. Perhaps it was during my childhood that the first glimmers of what grew into "leadership" showed. When I was five years old, at a sleepover with my Indian Guides tribe (the Creek tribe!) at the Buffalo Naval Park, I first saw the movie Top Gun. Thereafter I idolized the movie's main character - Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell.  Idolizing the lone hero or adventurer fits into the old definition of Leadership as our book talks about, but I think that a broader definition of heroism might fit better with the Social Change Model.

My first, and only sport until the end of middle school (w/ exception to a short dabble in basketball and football) was baseball. I love baseball. From my first t-ball game, to the last game I played sometime senior year of high school, baseball has played a great role in my life. I could probably write a whole other blog post with stories from my baseball career. When I got old enough to start blossoming into a position, I was a pitcher and infielder, but once I started playing travel baseball I became an outfielder. I idolized outfielders, Kenny Lofton in particular. For the record, if you loved Kenny too, you did not love him as much as I did. I loved Kenny because he could make those insane defensive plays, and he always played as hard as he could.

One other piece of my childhood has really shaped me today, and that is my love of racing. As long as I can remember, I've been into racing. Oddly, it wasn't because of my parents because according to them I brought racing into their world. It didn't matter what kind it was, I was fascinated with it. My favorite driver growing up was Rusty Wallace. He drove in NASCAR (note: I've lost interest in NASCAR at this point...but its role in creating the person I am today is a big one) and won two (I believe) Winston Cup Championships. If Rusty was the hero, then Dale Earnhardt was the villain. I despised Earnhardt, which led me to a bit of personal grief for my childhood feelings on the tragic February day he died on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

Break-time, grab a glass of water, use the restroom, whatever you have to do.

Okay we're back!

Current song: "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry

A lot of people say that the most formative years for a person are their high school years. I tend to agree because a lot of my character and personality developed during high school. There were two things in high 

school for me: School and Football.

My parents always stressed doing well in school, and I always had pretty good study habits. However, nothing set it in stone more than going to St. Ignatius High School. Forgive me if I come off as cocky about my high school, I really don't intend it. Ignatius is well respected and acknowledged in Cleveland for being one of the best private high schools in the area and possibly the nation. Being placed around 340 kids of similar academic talent and pushed hard by teachers led me to cherish good academics. Ignatius also taught me about becoming a “man for others”: recognizing that I have been placed here to use my talents to help others. It wasn’t only rigorous academics that shaped me at Ignatius though. Football also played a large part.

I got back into football in 8th grade, and decided I would play football at Ignatius. In 4 years there, I never started. I really didn't even get much playing time. However, looking back, being coached by Chuck Kyle was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. His mantra has always been that it’s not about winning; it’s about producing young men who are prepared to go into the world and do things the right way. This has always stayed with me. Playing football taught me determination too. The countless hours in the weight room, running sprints in the summer on Wadsmer field, and the few days of hell spent at one very steep hill under the I-480 Bridge in Rocky River taught me the value of hard work and determination.

One more quick break

Back! Time for college, FIJI, and that Blogabus we were talking about earlier

Current song - "We R Who We R" - Ke$ha

The person I became in high school did not change much when college came along; at least not academically. Freshman year, my biggest hurdle was finding a major. I always did well in school but never really had a passion for a single subject. After a year of taking different classes, I thought I knew what I wanted to do. However, it took a 9 hour drive back from Duke University (where my best friend goes to school) to change my mind and finally set things in stone. During that drive I realized a couple things: 1) I love racing, especially Formula 1, which is the technological pinnacle of motorsports 2) I'm smart, and there is no academic topic that I can't handle if I put the work in 3) Engineering and then working in racing is a great combination of childhood dream meets practical reality. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be a Mechanical Engineer.

Having finally gotten my feet under me concerning a major. I finally set about involving myself here at Ohio State. It's my greatest regret that I didn't do so sooner. In the spring of my sophomore year, FIJI started to enter my life. I tagged along with my roommates to chapter dinner one night, and thus this new journey began. I liked what I saw, but I was worried about time commitments. To the brother who would become my big, despite our differences, I owe the deepest debt of gratitude. Had Josh Bell not worked his butt off to introduce me to the right people, like Joey Clark, Tony Zimmerman, and Andrew Aten, I may not have become a FIJI. I am so glad he did though. I was so impressed by the people I met who are FIJIs. I likened it to an "honors fraternity" where no matter what a FIJI did on campus; they did it to the best of their ability. I'd found a perfect place, where everyone around me aspired to greatness. I believe that if you want to excel you must surround yourself with people who excel and FIJI gave me that opportunity. Anyways, that spring I was given a bid, and accepted on the spot. Almost two years later, the fire that Josh and the rest of the brothers here lit has grown into an inferno, and I find myself as the incoming Historian for this year. Wow! There is certainly more to that story but I'm getting lengthy here.

On to the Blogabus.

Having read the blogabus and the first two chapters for the class, I'm extremely excited. Even the most involved assignments sound fun, and if the length of this blog is any evidence, I won't need much help writing 5-7 pages on my own paper. This is the first class I've taken where I will discover my leadership type. As a member of the Greek community who deals daily with the stereotypes that entails, I'm dying to get to discussion. No doubt this community can change for the better. No doubt this community can lead greater change in society. No doubt that you all reading this can be the cause of that change. As the book says, social change and leadership happens in groups, and I'm 100% confident that we are the sort of group who can do it. However, first we must decide what that change is and learn how to best be the leaders of this movement. Once we do that, we can engage the rest of the community and we can "be the change [we] wish to see in the world. - Gandhi." Let's show the world that not only is the fraternity not irrelevant, but it can be the single greatest asset to a young man's college education in preparing him to be a leader in our world.

I hope I haven't been too long. I'll catch you all on the flip side.

Closing Song: "Let the Beat Build" - Lil Wayne