CFNN Reporters: Sanaa House and Darius Walker

Shooting hoops, marching in a group, protecting that goal, and still having a high GPA, Lilliana Colon’s hardwork and dedication has earned her Student of the Week.

Lilliana grew up in Pennsylvania where she spent most of her childhood. In 2019 she moved to North Carolina just before Covid. She moved around quite a bit as a young kid, going to Robertson elementary and then four different middle schools.

When it comes to being a student athlete, Lilliana is diligent in keeping her faith when weeks of homework and practice get hard. “I believe in God, I try to have hope in some things that are tough,” said Colon. She attends Covent love church where her faith in god grows strong to get her through her days ahead. Even before basketball games, Lilliana favors the good structure her team has, which is to say a prayer before the game starts.

Colon is one of the busier students here at Cape Fear, spending much of her time on athletic teams or working with the school’s award winning NJROTC program.

“I never have an off season, I am always doing something,” said Lilliana.

Colon’s academic schedule is one of the toughest around. She is enrolled in several advanced placement (AP) courses. A schedule like hers is not for the faint of heart. It requires her to be extremely disciplined with her time management, and forces her to carve out time to devote to her studies.

When it comes to her studies, Colon favors biology the most, being that it is her first class of the day; she’s fully awake and ready to take on the assignments and lessons. 

On top of her AP classes, Lilliana is a part of the girls basketball team, ROTC, and the girls soccer team. Student athletes not only have to keep their grades higher than 70%, they also deal with the pressure of performing in their sports. That hasn’t stopped her from striving for her best in everything she does.

“She’s a hardworking student, she can also balance her athletic part and her academic part,” said Lilliana’s Math teacher, Mrs. Balintec.

Colon is a popular student with her teachers. She is friendly and kind, which makes her a wonderful student to teach. 

“My week is usually very busy and I always have something to do after school. My games are usually a little nervous depending on the team but I’m usually ready to play,” said Lilliana. 

Here at Cape Fear, our sports teams are groups of hardworking kids that turn into a second family for many students.

“She’s always in the mood to be there for everybody and she’s ready to play and she never gives up,” said Jayda Bright, one of Lilliana’s teammates.

Colon has proven herself as a leader on the field, on the court, and in the classroom. Her classmates respect and admire her for her positive attitude and energetic encouragement of others.

“I enjoy a lot of stuff about basketball: the laughs with my teammates, the joy I feel after making a shot, the support from coaches and teammates, and making half court shots. I enjoy putting in the work to prove people wrong and show them I am capable of doing amazing things,” said Colon. 

In ROTC, Lilliana is on the drill team assisting younger cadets in a group that do certain kinds of marching and rifle movements in order to get a score during competitions.

“ROTC holds me accountable as well as me making sure I hold the other cadets accountable,” said Lilliana.

One of the requirements of the NJROTC program is that students often have to work together as a team. They have specific roles and responsibilities that must be performed. It is in this organization that Lilliana’s leadership skills have thrived.

“Lilliana is a wonderful leader, very inspirational for the cadets, She’s very good at directing them and giving them the knowledge that she has as far as passing it down. She also is a command match, which is wonderful because she’s our top three inner chain command,” said Lilliana’s ROTC coach and teacher, Chief Keller. 

Lilliana Colon is a prime example of “hard work pays off”. She hardly ever has  a week where she doesn’t have something going on. From AP homework, to ROTC, to Basketball practice, to soccer practice, Lilliana is always going. Through it all, her faith in God has given her peace and helped her perform to the best of her abilities in everything she does.