Moving from a suburban city in the mountains outside of Seattle to the bustle of Washington, D.C. to attend Georgetown University was not an easy decision for former Hoya track and field standout Christopher Lukezic. For him, the move meant that he would be entering “an incredibly different world” with “an incredibly different set of people”.
I can relate to this sort of decision, being from California and making the jump to the opposite coast just two and a half years ago. Moving comes with a particular set of risks that much of Georgetown’s Northeastern attendees may not have had to consider. Lukezic took the changes he was confronted with in stride and has set an example of what open-mindedness in the Georgetown setting can accomplish.
“I think that it was an amazing opportunity for me, for someone who … didn’t grow up with parents who were super high achievers, or heads of state, or at Fortune 500 companies, to be exposed to people who had actually grown up in that context, who had this incredibly different world perspective,” Lukezic said.
As a 1500-meter runner with promise to compete at an international level, challenging the boundaries of what he thought possible was essential in leading him to his greatest accomplishments. Learning from those around him, though, did not just fuel his ambitions, but also built in him an ability to weigh his life goals against each other.
“I was probably way too focused, way too serious about [track] my freshman year because I didn’t really know anything other than training. I kind of got surrounded by people who in a lot of ways taught me how to have a really good balance,” Lukezic said.
As Lukezic reached his final year at Georgetown, he was again challenged to do some soul-searching when a professor, who also acted as a close advisor to the young athlete, posed a simple, yet difficult question. “Why are you here?” the professor asked.
Lukezic had already signed a professional contract that would guarantee his life would be dedicated to track for the next five years, yet he still felt that it was obvious that he should complete his education.
“Is it something you have to do or is it something you feel like you have to do in order to do something else later? [Is] it a stepping stone to something else? Or [is] it something you really felt that you [had] to do?” his professor continued.
Struck at first by the fact that his professor was questioning his decision dedicate to so much time and money to his education, he soon realized that the question was asking something much more important.
He then concluded that, “you have to ask yourself with every decision you make and every situation you find yourself in, am I here because I want to be here, because I believe in it, or because I feel like I have to believe in it?”
From this conversation Lukezic gained new sense in how he approached his life goals and career path. After proving to himself that he could be a top-caliber athlete when he missed qualifying for the 2004 Olympic Games by only a few tenths of a second, his focus on training sharpened. Adversity took a stab at his athletic career, though, when he was injured just before the 2008 Olympic Trials. After giving his dream of competing in Olympics another year, Lukezic made a decision that would shape a new chapter in his life.
“I spent a lot of time in a very solitary existence and it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” Lukezic said.
With new direction and a fresh passion to pursue a career in business, he eventually convinced then-start up Airbnb to give him a chance to help them build their company nearly from scratch. Lukezic did not forget that conversation with his professor and made sure that passion for his work was the main priority. Today, Lukezic continues to live by this standard, following a new dream of starting a record label alongside his current work in London, expanding Airbnb to the European market.
“Choosing to follow your passion always leads you in the right direction because you are willing to go through all of the struggles it takes to achieve success.”
