Jordan Steven Arbas (2018)

During his six years at James Madison Preparatory School Jordan “LJ” (Steven) Arbas (Class of 2018) played football, baseball, basketball, and track, as well as major roles in school musicals, such as Billy in 42nd Street. At the end of his six years, he was good enough to pursue any of these extracurriculars at the college level.

He chose football.

“It’s the most physically demanding, one of the hardest [sports] to play. It’s gritty,” he says. But he says he doesn’t love football more than other sports. He chose it because “not a lot of people wanted me to do football. They pointed out my options [basketball, baseball, theater, track], but not football. I wanted to prove that I could make it in football.”

Jordan’s original plan was to walk onto Arizona State University’s football team, but when ASU canceled walk-on tryouts before his freshman year, he had to find a different route to collegiate football.

A recruiting app called Next College Student Athlete proved crucial to this. His mom had helped him set up a profile during his senior year. During the fall of his freshman year at ASU, that profile was discovered by Culver-Stockton College, a private liberal arts college in Canton, Missouri.

Culver offered Jordan academic and football scholarships, which he accepted. After his time at JMPS, he felt at home transferring to Culver-Stockton College, which has 1,000 students–about 62,000 fewer than ASU.

To JMPS athletes who want to play sports in college, Jordan says, “Coming from a small school like JMPS, it’s important to put your information out there and not just wait for the colleges to come recruiting. You have to make sure you’re reaching out to them.”

Life as a Collegiate Student-Athlete

After playing quarterback at JMPS, Jordan had the option to continue playing QB at Culver, but he wanted to build his experience as a skills player at the college level. So he became a wide receiver.

To play football in college, Jordan says, “You’ve got to really work. High school is where you’ll get acknowledged to get to college, but in college you really have to hone your skills to get better. It’s less about athletic ability and more about having a knowledge of the game and knowing what to do with your body during certain times.”

To adapt to the faster, intensified game where every player on the field is “the best or one of the best at his [high] school,” Jordan put in a lot of work on the side. This included spending more time in the weight room and asking other players how he was telegraphing his moves.

His teammates at Culver helped Jordan to develop into a next-level player, assisting him in playing smart as a receiver with a smaller build.

“People don’t really notice [I came from a smaller school like JMPS] because…I’m going against people who are better or the same level as me all the time, so I’m becoming better as an individual…You’re going to get better when you’re put into a tougher environment.”

Another adjustment Jordan had to make in college was the number of extracurriculars he could be involved in.

“I was so involved at James Madison,” Jordan says. “Baseball, basketball, football, musicals. All that stuff I miss. You don’t really understand how difficult it is to balance those schedules [in college], whereas JMPS made it so easy for students to be involved in everything.”

Instead of being involved in lots of extracurriculars in college, Jordan says that “during the season and during spring the majority of my time was spent with football, whether that be in practice or meetings. Playing sports in college is a lot of fun, but it’s also a full-time job.”

Academic Success at College

While football was decidedly more difficult in college than high school, Jordan’s academic experience was a different story.

Jordan’s friends often ask him how he does so well academically. His response: “It was imprinted on me when I was 15, 16…I learned how to write 6-, 8-page papers while I was also learning how to drive. College is tough. I’m not going to say college is easy, but I’m also not going to say it’s really hard, compared to JMPS. So I’m thankful that [JMPS] prepared me…I will always say my hardest academic year was JMPS junior year–harder than college.”

Because he didn’t struggle academically, Jordan had a lot of free time in college and found that “college is a whole lot of fun. You have time to figure out who you are as a person…and who you want to be in this world.”

Jordan will graduate in May with a B.A. in Psychology and Criminal Justice. He’s interested in working as a behavioral health technician and ultimately becoming a forensic interviewer for kids in trauma cases.

Influence of JMPS Teachers and Peers

Jordan still looks up to his high school teachers, especially Dr. Quigley and Mr. Batchelder.

“Those are the two who stood at the top for me. Whenever anyone had a question that was science related, they’d go to Dr. Quigley,” Jordan says. “And then Mr. Batchelder was that jack-of-all-trades. So I wanted to mix the two of them and be super smart like Dr. Quigley and still be that jack-of-all-trades like Mr. Batchelder.”

Jordan’s peers at JMPS have also influenced him. “Because it was a small school, I [knew] everyone in my class, even those below me,” he says. “It’s kind of like a family, and I want all of them to do well. And it’s neat to look at them down the road and see how many different paths we all take and where we have gone since high school.”

He’s still close to two of his high school friends, Jaylen Goade-Caves (Class of 2018) and TayLynn Letscher (Class of 2018). “They were my main friends that I went to no matter what happened throughout the years.”

Jordan finds it meaningful that even though the three of them are on different paths–TayLynn is pursuing legal studies and Jaylen aspires to own his own construction company–“We’re all going on and leading a good life and being successful with what we want to do. So it’s neat to see that aspect that comes from James Madison.”