By Christina Leslie, Correspondent

For the second consecutive year, students from Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Maple Shade, took home top honors in the annual Camden Catholic High School Academic Olympics, held Nov. 8 in the school’s Hocker Information Commons, Cherry Hill. In addition to OLPH winning first place in the team competition, Leanna Hobbs, an eighth grader in the Maple Shade school, clinched first in the individual portion.

The annual competition drew more than 50 participants in sixth, seventh and eighth grades from area public and Catholic schools from the Camden and Trenton dioceses. In addition to the team from Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the Diocese of Trenton was represented by students of St. Mary of the Lakes School, Medford, and St. Paul School, Burlington.

In round one, students were tasked with a written test of 100 questions in the disciplines of English, math, science and social studies. The top 15 scorers progressed to the semi-final, game-show-type round held in the Grandi Auditorium; the top three competitors then moved onto the final round to vie for school book vouchers and tuition credits in Camden Catholic High School.

Members of the OLPH team who qualified in the top 15 were Hobbs, Allison Ewing, Olivia Pawlow and Evan Schwantes, all eighth graders, and Justine Marano, a seventh grade student. Other team members included sixth grade student Mia Barto; seventh grade students Angelina Breen and Noah Troughton, and eighth graders Cristian Moore and Connor McKnight. With her first place individual title, Hobbs received a $500 scholarship to Camden Catholic High School.

Carl P. Jankowski, principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, expressed pride in the award-winning team, noting, “It is a true testament to the commitment to academic excellence at Our Lady of Perpetual Help that our team was able to be represented with such high marks as to be the School Champion in two consecutive years.