http://today.cofc.edu/2014/05/05/busy-student-athlete-student-media-editor-thrives-pressure/

There’s a moment just before a competition dive when everything goes silent. That’s the part College of Charleston junior Nicole DeMarco loves most. The tense stillness, the sense that everybody is watching her, the pressure to perform.

Nicole DeMarco

“You’re standing up there and you get nervous,” DeMarco says. “It’s a rush.”

The pursuit of that “rush” propels DeMarco in many areas of her life. Student-athletes are famously time-crunched, but DeMarco has redefined the student experience by trying as many different activities as she can, including athletics, student media, student government, and a sorority.

And she’s no slouch in the classroom either. DeMarco is a double major in international studies and French with a minor in political science. She’s set to venture overseas this summer for a prestigious internship –– the third international trip of her college career.

As editor-in-chief of Cistern Yard News, the College’s student media organization, DeMarco oversees the content and publication of Cistern Yard Magazine and news website cisternyard.com.

DeMarco says she has always thrived under deadline pressure –– the rush that is synonymous with journalism.

At her high school newspaper in Shelton, Conn., the fluffy stories weren’t for her. She gravitated toward international news and weightier topics like gay rights and bullying. At the College, she has worked her way up through the news staff – from writer, to news editor, to managing editor, to her current position.

“Nicole is the type of student who is always busy, but you would never know it,” says Katie Dean Williams, assistant director of student life marketing and media. “She is dedicated to her staff.  Courteous, but a natural leader, she always meets deadlines and follows up with everyone to make sure they are on track.”

Along the way, Demarco has tried her hand at student government (a senator during her freshman year) and Greek life (Zeta Tau Alpha) because “it was something else to be involved in.”

She’s already completed two study abroad experiences – Paris during her freshman year and Morocco in the summer of 2013.

RELATED: Learn more about study abroad opportunities at the College.

“I’ve always been someone who has to be busy, doing as much as I can,” she says. “That can be good and bad.”

It’s good, because she’s always challenging herself with new experiences. It’s bad, because she can overcommit. To keep herself on track, she swears by the simplicity of a Moleskine calendar. Her friends tease her about this old-school calendaring method, but DeMarco finds that the act of writing things down on paper makes them stick.

Nicole DeMarco in competition dive.

Earlier this year, having published her first issue of Cistern Yard Magazine in February 2014 followed by the conclusion of the diving season in March 2014, DeMarco had been settling into a rhythm with her courses. That’s when she was struck by the urge to take on a new commitment.

She found it on the United Nations’ online career portal. What the heck, she thought, as she clicked the submit button on an application for an internship with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, a United Nations court of law that deals with war crimes.

RELATED: Read more about the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

And what do you know? The life of this busy student-athlete just got a little busier. DeMarco ships out for the three-month internship in The Hague in May 2014.

She has a lot to do before then. But she welcomes the challenge.

“I work really well under pressure,” she says. “When I have too much time on my hands I can’t get things done. The pressure helps.”