Bergen Students Recognized By Archdiocese For Academic Excellence

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — 17 local Catholic students were recognized for excelling in academics and embodying values of the religious faith through service, a release said.

Each of the Bergen County students — all of whom attend archdiocesan schools and are in eighth grade — was recently presented with an Outstanding Catholic School Graduates award by the Archdiocese of Newark, the release said.

“As Outstanding Catholic School Graduates, you have distinguished yourselves not only in academics but also in something far more valuable in the long run — the way you live out the Gospel message in your words and deeds,” Cardinal Joseph Tobin, Archbishop of Newark, said in a letter to the students.

“We are indeed both proud and blessed by your endeavors and achievements," Newark's sixth archbishop said in congratulating the eighth-grade graduates.

The award recipients were also presented with a medal in front of their families during one of two Masses at the St. John Paul II Youth Retreat Center's Sacred Heart Chapel on March 25 and April 1. The students were recognized among others from three other northern New Jersey counties that the Newark Archdiocese serves.

This year's Bergen County recipients are the following:

Kayla Dzwilewski; St. Leo School, Elmwood Park

Alessandra Lara; Academy of Our Lady of Grace, Fairview

Alexander Tong; Christ the Teacher Academy, Fort Lee

Sean Benneh; Academy of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Franklin Lakes

Luke Alexander Santos; Academy of Our Lady, Glen Rock

Nicholas Percontino; Corpus Christi School, Hasbrouck Heights

Ciaran Henry; St. John’s Academy, Hillsdale

Bridgid Leddy; Sacred Heart School, Lyndhurst

Danila Rogel; Queen of Peace School, North Arlington

Nicholas Robert Brady; St. Joseph School, Oradell

Ariana Arteaga; Notre Dame Academy, Palisades Park

Laetitia Miksisahdo; Visitation Academy, Paramus

Rachel Mathew; Our Lady of Mercy Academy, Park Ridge

Alexander Vernace; Academy of St. Paul, Ramsey

Mary Calianese; St. Peter Academy, River Edge

Haydn Ty; Academy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Tenafly

Gavin Hermansen; St. Elizabeth School, Wyckoff