This week, Her Campus sat down with a true original, Zach Luetkehans. Always honest, Zach was happy to give insight on himself, relationships, his time at Notre Dame, and his future. Zach is quite the hidden gem!
About Zach
Name: Zach “W-Zach/Buster/Lukewarm” Luetkehans
Year, Dorm: Junior, O’Neill Hall
Hometown: Wheaton, Illinois
Major: Finance and Economics
Relationship Status: Single
Describe yourself in 3 Words: Goofy, kind, and mildly-uncoordinated
Signature Drink: Lagunitas IPA
Fun Fact about Yourself: I’m trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon this year so we’ll see how that goes.
Favorite song from the 90s? “Wonderwall” by Oasis
Greatest Fear: Heights.
Zach conquering his fears. Partially because his interviewer bullied him to do so.
Digging Deeper with Zach
If you were a comedian, what would you tell jokes about? I’d probably start a joke and just get lost among a bunch of tangent side stories and forget what I was saying initially and hope whatever I just said instead was at least sort of still funny.
What’s one thing you miss about being a kid? When it was socially acceptable for me to go to Dairy Queen and just order the cone, no ice cream. That was free too, they didn’t know how to charge you for just a cone.
Weirdest thing you’ve ever done: Ha…yeah, I can’t repeat most of these in a public forum. If you know me you’ll have enough to guess from though! Although, I guess I could say that time I got locked outside at 3 AM because I wanted to check if it was raining. It was, in fact, raining.
If you could go back to any time in history, when would it be and why? Attend game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals to watch Jordan’s last shot with the Bulls. That or December 23, 2012. That way I could tell myself to drink less so my grandmother wouldn’t have to excuse me from Christmas Eve Mass due to how hungover I was. Although despite how pathetic I felt, I can firmly say I’ve never loved my grandmother more than in that moment.
If you could have dinner with any person in the world, who would it be and why? Either Matt Damon because he’s the man or Kristen Bell because she’s just pretty awesome too.
What the Ladies Need to Know
Biggest dating/relationship pet peeve: Girls who think playing dumb makes them sound cuter. It’s really just sort of frustrating because you know they’re smarter than that (most girls here are plenty smarter than me). The way I see it, there’s no reason to ever act less intelligent than you really are for attention’s sake.
What do you look for in a girl? Really just someone cool who is nice and fun to talk to.
What is your biggest deal breaker in a girl? Just when they’re not being themselves.
What is your ideal date? Something cheap preferably…
If you had a daughter and had to give her one piece of advice, what would it be? Be yourself and just do what you’ve got to do when you’ve got to do it. If you do, things will work themselves out, they always do. Positivity.
In the future, what will you say to someone trying to date your daughter? Probably the same thing I say about kids who try to date my little sister, which includes plenty of unwarranted threats.
What do you think is a smooth pick-up line? Who needs talking? It’s all about the casual head nod.
Zach being a protective older brother.
Time at Notre Dame
If you could go back to freshman year and tell yourself one thing you know now, what would it be? Get more involved with clubs and just work harder: get to know more random people you meet around campus.
What do you consider to be your biggest achievement/crowning glory at Notre Dame?…Does getting accepted count?
What is your favorite Notre Dame memory thus far? As a whole experience, it would have to be going abroad to Australia. Otherwise for a single moment, it would definitely be that 5-OT game against Louisville last year.
What’s one item on your Notre Dame Bucket List? Attend a game where we beat USC. I’ve been to four ND-USC games (Bush push included). Also, I missed this year’s game being abroad. I’ve never seen us win in person. So I’m traveling out there this fall and hopefully I’ll get to see that.
What was your favorite ND football game you’ve ever attended? Probably the Stanford game sophomore year. Or when I went to a Notre Dame/Air Force game in 2000 where we blocked a game winning field goal in the last play of the fourth quarter and won in OT. That was an awesome game to go to as a little kid.
What is the one thing that should be taught at Notre Dame that isn’t? I want a class purely on Game of Thrones, but that’s probably just me.
Plans for the Future:
Where do you see yourself in 25 years? No idea. I figure if I’m not homeless I’ve won the battle.
What does your perfect day in the future look like? Run, lift, watch a movie, write a little bit, hang out with some friends, and drink a good six-pack. Which, now that I reread this, is a pretty normal process for me, so I’m not sure how to feel about this.
What would you do with the money if you won the lottery? Invest some, donate some, and then go out and buy a winter home in Colorado for snowboarding and another home that would overlook a river canyon modeled off a McDonald’s I saw in Austria a few years back. Just without the whole it being a McDonald’s thing.
Would you rather be fabulously wealthy, or find the love of your life? Probably love of my life, at the end of the day money is great but you can’t buy love or friendship.
Closing Remarks: Hope you all have a nice rest of your day.
Thanks, Zach!
XOXO, HCND
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