Passion and leadership
Hear from CMU boxing club president Tupac Holmes
From holding a pen in classes to putting on boxing gloves, junior Tupac Holmes is a Central Michigan University information systems student and a vice president of the CMU Boxing Club.
Holmes is a leader in groups and for himself.
He is a student technician for the IT Department and was a workshop coordinator for IMPACT.
“I think I became very (good) at diversifying my tasks and just putting things in order,” he said. “Like for a job, I have that at my top priority because I have to get my money”.
He also asks mentors and leaders for tips and strategies to better manage his time.
Right hooks after class
“I started boxing junior year of highschool," he said. "My friend Matt, my friend from seventh grade, ...he said ‘Come to our training and see how you like it’ and I started boxing from there and I always kept coming back.”
He competed for the first time in the summer of 2021, while the COVID-19 pandemic was still active. He won the tournament, which gave him the energy to keep going.
“When I came to Central, there wasn’t really any boxing around," he said. “So I just continued to just train on my own ... I didn't have any equipment to use except stuff I had personally, like I didn’t have bags or anything of that nature.
“Last year, I found some other like-minded people and I found a coach that actually teaches boxing here ... and he connected me with the club boxing that they were starting up that semester.” He said the club has since grown.
Holmes said boxing teaches life lessons beyond just the sport.
“A lot of people use (boxing) to lose weight, but for me," he said. "It's more of a stress reliever but also a way for me to stay disciplined because to be a good boxer, you have to be very disciplined."
“I know for sure that I’m going to continue boxing as life goes, if it's casual, competitive (or) anything," he said. "I think maybe after I graduate, I might slow down a bit because I got to get acclimated wherever I’m at and what job I’m doing and get that schedule right. But after that, once I find a gym that I love and I want to train in, I will continue to train and might fight competitively for a few more years."
He would like to build a boxing ring in his garage when he has the chance, he said.
The gentle tech giant
Holmes said working as a student technician for the IT (information technology) department was important to his career path.
“For that major (information systems), IT is a very good start for the road to cybersecurity," he said. "So I took the opportunity to put myself in that position and just try to help as much as I can and be able to get as much hands-on experience as I can."
Holmes said it would impact his future and allow him “to start off as a cybersecurity analyst since that's where most entry roles are, (and) eventually get into network engineering.”
"I don't want to have a nine-to-five my whole life," he said. "My goal is to have a degree that... will always be a needed field.
"I want to get into real estate and be a real estate investor," Holmes said, using the money he makes working in cybersecurity.
Origins in the Windy City
Holmes is originally from Chicago, but he said being away from home isn't too difficult.
“I’ve been a very independent person, ‘to-myself’ type of person since childhood," he said. "Being here, away (from home), just gave me a sense of independence on how to move around on my own."
“I use (being independent) as an asset, so if there’s ideas going around, a lot of times I have a very different perspective on things and I just voice that and see what everybody thinks," he said. "Everybody might not agree, but it's still voiced out there, a thought that I put out there.”
Holmes said he can be selfless as a leader.
“I understand with leadership, not everything will go your way and all your ideas are the final say of how things go," he said. "So being in a team, with my individuality, I learn how to incorporate and understand different perspectives”.
Holmes said he understands how to be empathetic and take in the perspectives of other people.
“As I’ve grown, I meet people of different levels, different paths and older people that have different ideas and different mentalities," he said. "I’m able to see the different strategies or different ways to develop a certain mindset."
The real question: Chicago or Detroit pizza?
“I don't think any pizza is better than Chicago’s,” he said. “Chicago pizza is just different. The amount of restaurants you have that have deep dish or good pizza in general who have their own unique style of pizza is just miraculous.”
