Dunking His Way Into Senior Year: Jeff Jordan
Student jeff jordan photographed across the street from the sports center. photo courtesy f gogryphons.
We live in a culture of instant gratification, most especially in the millennial world. The forces of ‘now’ impede many from making short-term sacrifices for long-term gain. FOMO (fear of missing out) is a real force to reckon with and the idea of surrendering the spotlight for a quiet desk in the library is not reflective to a lot of guys with hoop dreams. Jeff Jordan (‘17), the Gryphons’ basketball team’s guard, forward and leader as well as Skyline honor roll member for two consecutive years, has made hard choices and short-term sacrifices in his drive toward long-term gains.
In the final weeks of his senior basketball season, Jordan reflected back on the decisions, teams and friends that have made his time at Sarah Lawrence unique and special.
Jordan’s basketball journey began over a decade ago at the age of six, and just like so many young men around the world, his passion for the game has fueled his desire to constantly improve at the sport. After sixteen years of playing, Jordan touched on the aspects that drew him to the sport and what keeps him motivated. “The family and unity that being on a team brings, the desire to reach common goal, the fact that I get to come in every day and improve personally. I just love seeing good results knowing that I worked hard for it,” he said.
Over the years Jordan’s game has seen many changes. He started as a point guard in high school, but he has played almost every position for Sarah Lawrence’s team headed by Coach Chris Ehmer. However, bigger changes took place off the court. After his freshman year at Bard College, Jordan transferred to Sarah Lawrence for its accessibility to the city. The switch made it difficult and uncomfortable for the aspiring lawyer when Sarah Lawrence played against Bard.
But the Sarah Lawrence team embraced Jordan and his talents. Jordan was voted as team captain for his junior year. Midway through his leadership, he had to leave the team to dedicate time to studying for his law school exams.
As a collegiate student-athlete, Jordan has seen much success not only in the gym, but also in his classes. His mantra is school first, basketball second, and from there, everything else will fall into place. Jordan will be attending The University of Pittsburgh School of Law next fall.
On campus, Jordan has been quite active. Apart from wanting to get to know people and be immersed in the community, he’s worked in residence life, the Campbell Sports Center and has taken advantage of law firm internships and others in the city. In addition, he has been a member of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee and the Law Studies Club.
As he enters the last six games of this season, Jordan looked back at this team, the team that marks the end of his basketball career. “I really like this team, off the court we all get along, everyone supports each other and we genuinely care about each other’s well being. I think every team needs that, it builds great chemistry,” Jordan said. “But on the court we have some things we need to work on, and I think they slowly are changing, the culture is changing. People are working harder and because of that the intensity will rise.”
Justice Nikkel ‘20