Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Brian Landi

Each week, Marple Newtown Patch will seek suggestions from readers for individual kids, youth groups, teens, and even sports teams that wow us with their accomplishments. This week we highlight Brian Landi, a senior at Marple Newtown, who was recently recognized as an Academic All American swimmer.

Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Brian Landi

Whiz Kid's Age: 18

Whiz Kid's School:

Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Brian, who swims the 100 meter breaststroke and 200 meter, individual medley was recently recognized as an Academic All American swimmer by the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association.

To qualify for the award, a student must have a minimum GPA of 3.75 on a 4.0 scale, be a graduating senior and have lettered in the program in his or her senior year, according to the association.

In addition, Brian was recently recognized at a 2012 Congressional Scholar Athlete Award reception.

Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: Following the footsteps of his older brother, Brian shared his brother was also a recipient of the Academic All American award and always looked up to him "here and there."

"When he was going through high school, I really looked up to him and what he was doing [including swimming]," said Brian.

Brian started swimming at the age of 5 or 6 at the , which was only a stone's throw away from his home at the time.

"We lived about 30 seconds away by the Marple Newtown Swim Club, so that summer club pool was right there," recalled Brian. "And at a young age, we were always there and continued to go every day, every summer and when I was in high school, I joined the team."

He can't exactly pinpoint how he felt when he first jumped into a pool [reports from family members concluded he "instantly loved the water"], but he remembers the first time he seriously thought about swimming competitively.

"At the Marple Newtown Swim Club, when I was really young, I remember just looking up to the senior swimmers and watching those last couple of legs of a close race and watching that last swimmer swimming the last leg of the race. I just thought it would be really cool to be the last swimmer to win that meet," shared Brian.

Brian, who also followed his brother's path by coaching the children's/pre-teen swimmers at the club, has been coaching the for about three years now and takes pride in coaching.

"I enjoy helping kids one on one and in small groups as well as the larger group," said Brian. "At a young age, you’re really tryng to teach the fundamentals and trying to build a good foundation for their swimming skill. It’s kind of something I always kind of wanted to do."

Though he has a passion for swimming, Brian is an avid runner and runs the 800 meter for the high school. Someday, Brian hopes to carry his passion for both sports to a more competitive level like the Iron Man race or a triathlon.

Brian will be attending Penn State University next year and plans to study systems engineering. Brian chose his senior project to get his feet wet in the field by working at Piasecki Helicopter Corporation in Philadelphia. In addition to senior project, other things he's looking forward to with the last couple of months left in high school career: graduation.

Still in shock that this will be the final months left before graduation, Brian believes "time really flew by" during his time at Marple Newtown High School. One piece advice he'd like to share with the underclassmen?

"Definitely get involved right from the beginning. Do as much as you can but not too much because you want to enjoy it. When you get involved with different things you meet all different kinds of people. And before you know it you’re a senior. If I didn’t get involved in many activities, I wouldn’t have all these experiences to look back at all those moments."