On October 15, 2014, Cristian Milevski, The Maroon Tribune’s Co-Sports Editor, was honored as the Channel 12 Scholar Athlete of the Week. As the starting center for the DMAE Maroon Raiders football team, Cristian has achieved numerous athletic accomplishments.

To begin with, this year Cristian was named captain of the Maroon Raiders, who recently snagged an impressive one-point victory against their cross city rivals, Fort Lee, on October 11, 2014. With his new responsibilities as captain, Cristian hopes to have continued success on and off the field.

“We had a great win against Fort Lee making us one step closer to the bigger picture in mind which is MetLife,” Cristian said proudly. “Now as a team we need to take in this victory and prepare for the next opponent on our schedule.”

This dedication to his team made Cristian a well-known athlete around the DMAE campus and later, the attention of Channel 12 NJ News.

“I nominated Cristian out of any other athlete on our campus. As the Athletic Director I am well aware of Cristian’s on-the-field accomplishments and as Vice Principal of the Academies I am well aware of his academic accomplishments and the different leadership capacities that he has had on this campus,” Vice Principal Armental said.

Channel 12 NJ News officially came to Winton White Stadium in Englewood for an up-close interview with Cristian in early October. The Channel 12 crew  also filmed him running drills and team activities, to capture some of his leadership abilities on the field. Cristian’s impact also filters down to freshmen.

“I am just a freshmen, but I always see Cristian around,” freshman David Vasquez said. “He is a role model for me.” David added that he felt Cristian’s success would “bring recognition to our school and the athletes that we have in Englewood.”

Cristian’s exceptional sportsmanship was not the only reason why he was honored Scholar Athlete of the Week. His academic performance and community work also bolstered his credentials.

As a student in the Law and Public Safety Academy, he juggles school work with participation in the Green Dot Initiative to raise awareness for bullying and domestic violence. Recently, he became part of a coalition on campus to educate students and the community about the problem of human trafficking associated with sports events such as the Super Bowl.

“Whether it’s me or somebody else, someone could be affected by it and everybody needs to know about human trafficking and how horrible it is, so we just try to bring awareness to everybody,” Cristian said.

Last year, Cristian was awarded with All League Honors for helping the team get into the North Jersey State Playoffs. This year, his accomplishments are still accumulating. To see the Channel 12 News clip of Cristian, visit http://newjersey.news12.com/multimedia/scholar-athlete-cristian-milevski-1.9509583