Jess Derr

Jessica Derr • Nov 2, 2017 •12:03 pm

What I've Learned at the Writing Center

Writing has always been an essential part of who I am. My earliest memories include me creating makeshift books, silly little leaflets of computer paper stapled together, adorned with my illegible crayon scrawl, and making up worlds and characters to share with my family. I don’t like to say I’m...

Jessica Derr • Oct 16, 2017 •3:09 pm

Midnight Chicken Fingers, Changing Friendships, and More: Lessons from Freshman Year

Every year, without fail, when the fireflies begin to fade into blackness, when winds run cool, and the back-to-school advertisements hound my every waking hour, I am gripped by immense anxiety despite the fact that I am not going back to school, at least not in the traditional sense. [block3...

Jessica Derr • Apr 26, 2017 •12:00 am

April Pollock and Kate Higgins, Women’s Lacrosse Coaches

Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach April Pollock and Assistant Women’s Lacrosse Coach Kate Higgins discuss the challenges and rewards of coaching at Arcadia. How did you get into coaching? AP: My senior year in college, I was taking a study course for the LSATs because I originally...

Jessica Derr • Apr 12, 2017 •12:00 am

From Grey Towers to the Iron Throne

I remember many a night my senior year of high school, sitting at my kitchen table, engaged in a losing battle with a beast known to me as Calc 232. Encircled by crumpled notes, old tests, and battered packets, the sheer extent of my academic mess made it feel as though the clutter...

Jessica Derr • Mar 3, 2017 •12:00 am

Game-Day Anxiety

One would think that after playing lacrosse for 11 years–over half my life–that I would be beyond game-day jitters. Beyond fretting over throwing turnovers, getting beat on defense, and flubbing plays. Beyond stealing glances at the sidelines, terrified of what spectators might be thinking about my...

Jessica Derr • Feb 27, 2017 •12:00 am

Winter-Break Purgatory

If I did not know any better, I would have thought I was in purgatory. Bleary-eyed and messy-haired, I’d rise long after the rest of the world, staggering down the stairs like something straight out of The Walking Dead. From all the daytime television I consumed, Live With Kelly,...

Jessica Derr • Jan 13, 2017 •12:00 am

‘It’s on Us’

They often say that the college years will be the best years of your life. For Yeardley Love, it seemed to be going that way. The Baltimore native had achieved her childhood dream of playing for the University of Virginia women’s lacrosse team while pursuing a major in government and a...

Jessica Derr • Dec 6, 2016 •12:00 am

Todd Barnes, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach

One of the things we talk about a lot is before you can win a championship, you have to believe you are a champion-level athlete. You’ve got to believe in yourself. Nothing positive ever happens from negative thoughts.  Being a successful student and being a successful athlete...

Jessica Derr • Nov 9, 2016 •7:00 pm

Jurassic Distractions

I came crashing into consciousness, roused by a pounding on the door. This was no ordinary knock. Not your suitemate forgetting her key type of knock. Not your RA telling you are violating quiet hours (again) knock. Not public safety returning your burned microwave because someone...

Jessica Derr • Oct 18, 2016 •4:07 pm

The Life of a College Athlete

It is 5-something a.m. on a Friday. The first lights of dawn have yet to color the sky. Even the most ambitious of students remain in the sanctity of their beds, not even the birds have risen – the morning air rendered still without their song. All of Arcadia University seems to be bewitched in a...