Christopher Mijavec

Christopher Mijavec
Christopher Mijavec believes time is valuable, and one would be hard-pressed to find someone who makes better use of his time.
The Howland High School senior has a 3.97 GPA while taking mostly honors classes and college courses. He’s on the football, wrestling, and track and field teams.
He is active at Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church and volunteers at other churches and at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. He’s a member of National Honor Society and is involved in many extracurricular activities at school, and he also works for his family’s catering business.
For those reasons, Mijavec, 18, was selected as one of the Tribune Chronicle’s Twenty Under 20 honorees for 2024. The program is co-sponsored by Akron Children’s Mahoning Valley and AVI Foodsystems.
In her nomination letter, family friend Christine Gajski wrote, “He is an extracurricular phenomenon. He is a passionate philanthropist, an avid athlete, devout Catholic, dedicated family man and superb friend … Christopher is a refreshing and rare find. He embraces life fully and is a true role model in every sense.”
Mijavac credited being involved in sports year round with teaching him to make maximum use of his time and hone his leadership skills, especially being selected as a captain on the wrestling team his junior year and on Howland’s football team as a senior.
“Being in three sports year round, time management is very important, especially with AP honors and college classes,” he said. “It’s taught me you have to be dedicated to what you’re doing. You can’t waste time.”
Mijavec enjoys working with the younger wrestlers and tries to lead by example.
His faith also has played an important role in his life and his volunteer work. Being a lector at church made him more comfortable speaking in public; being an altar server brought him closer to God and made him feel better about himself.
“I’m very proud of my faith,” Mijavec said. “The big thing is to give back to people that you know are in need or maybe aren’t as advantaged as I am.”
As the youngest of four children, Mijavec said he followed the example set by his siblings.
“My brother, I looked up a lot to with sports and whatnot,” he said. “He was always the big sports guy, so he kind of set that whole thing into motion for me to do all the sports. I do exactly what he did pretty much.
“Then my oldest sister, I always looked up to her educationally. Just watching her succeed and be smart always made me want to be right there with her. She’s always helping me with homework and stuff. Even though she lives in Chicago, I always call her if I need help.”
Mijavec wants to continue to wrestle in college, possibly at Cleveland State University, and he plans to study finance.
“I want to work in banking eventually, the same as my older sister does.”