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Athlete Awards

Senior Close-Up

Joanna Regan

  • Award
    Senior Close-Up
  • Week Of
    6/25/2015
  • Sport
    Women's Lacrosse
  • Bio
    View Full Bio
NOTE: The Senior Close-Up is an occasional feature on the Bard Athletics web site, with the focus being the life of a student-athlete at Bard. Here, every student must complete a Senior Project to graduate. The Senior Project is an original, individual, focused project growing out of the student’s cumulative academic experiences. Preparation begins in the junior year, and one course each semester in the senior year is devoted entirely to the Senior Project. The student submits the completed project to a committee of three professors and participates with them in a Senior Project Review.

By Jim Sheahan
Director of Athletic Communications & Marketing

Joanna Regan doesn't want to sit, she wants to play.

Maybe it bears repeating. She really wants to play. She wants to play so much that if the NCAA actually kept statistics that bridged different sports, she might be in a category all by herself.

2691She's definitely special, even at Bard. Heading into the basketball season, this three-sport star had competed in 193 NCAA games, between soccer, basketball and lacrosse. She then played every single basketball game in the 2014-15 season, every single women's lacrosse game in 2015, and ended her career with 232 NCAA games played. Outrageous.

This is not a part-time player. She led all Liberty League players in minutes played in 2013-14 in basketball - 38.3 minutes played per game out of 40 - and never missed a game in any of the three sports over four years. Incredible.

2692It's all been driven by a desire to compete, motivated by a need to be constantly challenged, and fueled by Skittles and Coca-Cola.

"I've always hopped from one thing to the next," Regan says. "I have to keep doing things. In high school, if there was a chunk of time between the end of school and practice, I'd run for class president. I do get bored easily."

She admits that academically, high school wasn't very challenging for her. She filled her time with athletics, mostly soccer, although she played basketball and lacrosse in-season during high school.
2693
"I was just kind of plowing through," Regan said. "I just didn't have to try very hard to succeed academically. I was on three different soccer teams and the basketball and lacrosse teams. My parents (Jeannie, Jim) have been supportive of anything my siblings (James, Jessica) or I wanted to do - but if we were going to do it, it had to be 100 percent effort."

Initally recruited to play soccer at Bard, then lacrosse, Regan had never heard of the school when she arrived for a visit on a rainy, muddy day. She applied for an Excellence and Equal Cost (EEC) Scholarship, which if granted, would mean she'd need to maintain a 3.3 GPA to keep it.

She got the scholarship and came to Bard, planning to play soccer and lacrosse. She added basketball when she got here, and found out quickly she was not ready for the rigorous academic environment Bard had waiting for her.

"I was fine during that first soccer season, but then the basketball coach heard that I'd played in high school and asked me to come out for the team," Regan recalls. "There had been a few days since soccer season ended and I was getting bored, so I said yes.

"I figured I'd be fine academically," she continued. "But I was sorely mistaken. I figured I could do that no problem but it was a problem."

Even with the initial struggles, she maintained her above-3.3 GPA. Her intentions were to study Mathematics or Physics when she arrived, but on the first day of Calculus 3, her path became more clear.

"I started taking calculus classes, and I was a super nervous freshman," Regan says. "On the first day of Calc 3, the professor walked up to the board, wrote his name, drew a smiley face, and said 'The first thing you should know is that I'm nice.' He really did turn out to be nice. I think he's the best professor here."

She's referring to Assistant Professor Jim Belk, whom she credits, along with the whole Mathematics Department, for helping her discover her path.

Recently, her path took her to New York City for interviews, then to Chicago for a second Interview with Morningstar Inc., an independent investment research company.

Last summer she visited friends and Bard graduate Nick Chan, who works at Morningstar. First thing Chan showed Regan when she showed up? Free soda everywhere.

"I joked 'Maybe I should work here'," Regan said. "Maybe it'll happen!"

It did happen. Regan was hired and starts at Morningstar this summer.

The inside joke is Regan's other passion - candy and soda. Yes, she admits it's odd for a college student-athlete to eat Skittles and drink Coke, but it's part of her routine. She had a pocketful of Skittles during the interview for this story.

"We stayed in a hotel for one of our soccer trips this fall, and it was my heaven," Regan said. "Free candy, free hot chocolate, and free ice cream, everywhere, any time, day or night. I always tell myself I should stop drinking soda, and I'll stop for a couple of weeks sometimes. But ... coke with no ice. I have to have it."

Eating habits aside, Regan has been a model of consistency. She played every game with high intensity in all three sports and although she's had plenty of bumps and bruises, and she has chronic back pain due to a missing piece of bone in her lower spine, she hasn't missed a game.

It also drove opponents crazy that she always seemed unfazed by dirty tactics - in fact, she was often seen laughing out there.

"It's just the way I play," Regan said. "The funniest is when players from other teams say things to me. I just laugh about it. If someone does something dirty, I don't retaliate right away. I might just make a mental note and catch up with them later."

Now that she's has graduated, her appreciation for Bard has grown. Apparently she's found time to look around once in a while.

"When I first came I didn't think I'd learn to love Bard as much as I do," Regan said. "Everybody goes through a phase as a freshman where they say they don't like it here and they're going to transfer. I'm starting to notice how beautiful it is. Plus, a lot of people who I'm friends with who've already graduated always say how much they miss Bard and that they want to come back here.

"I'm starting to understand that now," she concluded.


Athlete Awards
Date Athlete Sport
11/1/2021 Alex Luscher Baseball
10/24/2019 Artun Ak Men's Squash
4/24/2019 Casey Witte Women's Lacrosse
12/21/2017 Vikramaditya Joshi Men's Squash
10/11/2017 Avalon Qian Women's Soccer
2/23/2017 John Henry Glascock Men's Lacrosse
9/27/2016 Kelsey O'Brien Women's Soccer
4/21/2016 Alec Montecalvo Baseball
10/5/2015 Abbey Labrecque Women's Soccer
6/25/2015 Joanna Regan Women's Lacrosse
4/15/2014 Josh Hodge Men's Swimming
11/4/2013 Julia DeFabo Women's Tennis
4/4/2013 Perry Scheetz Women's Soccer
9/28/2012 Fiona Do Thi Women's Volleyball
2/12/2012 Nick Chan Men's Volleyball
9/23/2011 Kim Larie Women's Soccer
4/26/2011 Billy Sarno Men's Track and Field
3/16/2011 Hannah Becker Women's Lacrosse
2/22/2011 Marissa Papatola Women's Basketball
2/2/2011 Elijah Strauss Men's Volleyball
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