National Football Foundation

With a 4.00 GPA in neuroscience, John Arena still made time for an all-conference career with the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. With his impressive résumé on and off the field, Arena becomes the school’s first-ever NFF National Scholar-Athlete.

A 2012 CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American and First Team All-District selection, Arena earned induction into Phi Beta Kappa honor society. The Bryn Mawr, Pa., native appeared twice on the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll, and he has received Dean’s List honors every semester of college. Arena plans to attend medical school, scoring in the 99.6-99.8 percentile among all test takers on the Medical College Admission Test.

Second Team All-Centennial Conference at linebacker in 2012, Arena has led Johns Hopkins to three Centennial Conference titles and two appearances in the NCAA Division III Playoffs. He entered his senior season with 115 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, five sacks and four interceptions while helping the Blue Jays to a 28-6 record during his career. Arena has played in every game of his college career and has helped Johns Hopkins to a 7-0 start this season, recording 28 tackles. He currently ranks ninth in the conference with four sacks.

Despite his busy schedule, Arena still made time to help on campus and in the community. A community outreach intern for the People’s Community Health Center, he served as president of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He was a member of Nu Rho Psi neuroscience society. While he tutored his fellow student-athletes, Arena also volunteered with the Kids Enjoying Exercise Now initiative.

Arena is currently a resident at the Department of Neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.