Crissostomos Villarreal ’17, a Worcester State University student-athlete, has been awarded with the Lt. Col. James F. Sheehan ’55, USMC Ret. Junior Achievement Award for his academic excellence for the 2015-16 academic year.

The Col. James F. Sheehan ’55, USMC Ret. Academic Excellence awards are given to the highest-ranking students in each class who have maintained full-time student status and have completed his or her course work at Worcester State.

Villarreal is a double major in Spanish and Business Administration with a minor in Economics. A long ways from home, Villarreal comes from the town of Corona, Calif., recruited across country to Worcester State University to play ice hockey for the Lancers.

Despite arriving in Worcester knowing absolutely no one, Villarreal says the hockey program helped him adjust and prosper in college.

“Hockey gives me structure and order,” he says. “I’ve been playing it for almost 20 years. My parents said that when I was a kid, I’d rather be skating than walking.”

Villarreal’s father is from Panama and his mother from Tennessee. He discovered his appreciation of his heritage and his love of the Spanish language in college.  But deep down, he has a business mindset—after college he plans to enter the marketing industry and eventually start several businesses of his own. “Hopefully I can leave my mark on the world,” he says.

Villarreal works two jobs in addition to his studies—as a valet for local restaurants and as a marketing coordinator for a financial services firm in California, a job he can do during the school year working remotely. He is also part of the Honors Program and the Athletic Mentor Program. His secret of success is pretty simple:  “I just work hard and reap the rewards.”

Some parts of his future plans are clearer than others: He is engaged to a fellow Worcester State University student they plan to marry after graduation. With his family, the couple also intends to visit his extended family in Panama for the first time this summer.

Portions of this Release Courtesy of Kristen O’Reilly | Worcester State University Advancement