For five years, goalkeeper Jackson Leavitt built his life around Elon University.<\/p>\n
The graduate student balanced late-night assignments, long road trips and years of waiting behind veteran goalkeepers before finally earning his opportunity as Elon men\u2019s soccer\u2019s starting goalkeeper this past season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After graduation, Leavitt will move back home to Dallas to begin working as a portfolio valuation analyst for Kroll, a finance and risk advisory firm that assists other businesses in decision-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The move home carries extra weight for Leavitt. Because he spent each of the last three summers working internships in different cities, he said he has barely been home during his college career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been home three years now, because I\u2019ve worked every summer somewhere else,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cI definitely wanted to be in Dallas because I have a lot of great friends back home, and I’ll be closer to my parents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Leavitt, the job represents more than a career milestone. It is the culmination of five years spent trying to maximize every opportunity he had both on the field and in the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really want to regret anything,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cSo I might as well try as hard as I can now and try to live with no regrets.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mentality defined his time at Elon.<\/p>\n
Leavitt arrived at Elon unsure of exactly what academic path he wanted to pursue. During his freshman year, he explored a variety of courses before eventually narrowing his focus to finance and analytics \u2014 two fields that matched his longtime interests in technology and problem-solving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m actually a big computer guy,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cComplete nerd when it comes to computers and technology and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
He eventually pursued a double major in finance and business analytics before professors encouraged him to stay for Elon\u2019s master\u2019s program as well.<\/p>\n
While continuing graduate coursework, Leavitt also entered the most important athletic season of his college career.<\/p>\n
For four seasons, Leavitt primarily served as a backup goalkeeper. Despite limited playing time, he stayed with the program and continued developing behind the scenes. By the time his final season arrived, he said he finally felt ready for the opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI sat the bench for four years,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cFinally worked my way up to a starting position, and I don\u2019t regret what I did one bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
This fall, Leavitt helped lead Elon men\u2019s soccer to its first Coastal Athletic Association championship during his first full season as the team\u2019s starter. He said the championship carried extra meaning because of the teammates and former players who helped shape his journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these guys were amazing at soccer,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cI just wanted to win it for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leavitt said some of the most meaningful moments after the championship came from hearing from former teammates who had spent years chasing the same goal \u2014 though many also teased him after he dropped his CAA All-Tournament Team trophy on his hand during the celebration.<\/p>\n
That award was one of many in a year filled with recognition for Leavitt. Earlier this spring, he was named the CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year, recognizing the conference\u2019s top male student-athlete.<\/p>\n
The honor reflected years of balancing academics and athletics simultaneously \u2014 something Leavitt said required constant discipline and communication.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re doing homework on a bus, you\u2019re doing homework on a plane before a plane takes off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He credited Elon professors and mentors for helping him manage the demands of being both a graduate student and Division I athlete.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think communication and honestly putting your head down and doing the work are the two things that really helped me succeed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Those same lessons now shape how Leavitt approaches his future career.<\/p>\n
Before accepting his full-time role with Kroll, Leavitt completed internships with a private equity firm in Chicago and with aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman in Baltimore. The experiences helped him better understand the type of environment he wanted after graduation.<\/p>\n
At Northrop Grumman, much of his work involved independent spreadsheet and analytics projects. During his private equity internship in Chicago, he gained more experience interacting with coworkers and clients directly.<\/p>\n
That combination of analytical work and communication ultimately drew him to Kroll\u2019s portfolio valuation analyst position.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a finance role, and I get to work with a lot of people and a lot of companies,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I just love client-facing work, which is what I\u2019ll get to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leavitt believes the communication and trust he developed through soccer will help him transition into the professional world. He said being part of a team taught him how to navigate different types of relationships, whether with coaches, teammates or future supervisors.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll have trust in everyone, but how you act within that realm of trust is what I think I\u2019ve learned pretty well here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Although Leavitt said he is ready for life after Elon, leaving campus after five years remains emotional.<\/p>\n
Many of his closest friends already graduated last year, making this final season feel different from previous years. Still, Leavitt said the relationships he built through soccer and school are what he will remember most about Elon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to miss it because of the buildings or stadiums,\u201d Leavitt said. \u201cI think I\u2019m going to miss the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he prepares to leave Elon for Dallas and begin his career in finance, Leavitt said he feels proud of what he accomplished during his time with the Phoenix. Not because everything came easily, but because he stayed committed through the difficult moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m ready, half a decade?\u201d Leavitt said, laughing. \u201cYeah, definitely time to move on. I think in half a year, though, I’ll probably look back, and really miss this place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After five years as an Elon goalkeeper, graduate student and leader, Leavitt said he leaves Elon with the one thing he wanted most: no regrets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For five years, goalkeeper Jackson Leavitt built his life around Elon University. The graduate student balanced late-night assignments,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-691455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}