While sports get the most coverage at any high school, academic competitions are just as challenging.

Members of the Science Olympiad team take tests and build different contraptions ranging from model bridges to airplanes, studying and following guidelines to impress the judges.

In December 2015 science Olympians from Allentown Central Catholic High School traveled to Islip, N.Y., to compete against teams from Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

Kerrie Koller and Sydni Ernst placed fourth out of 55 teams in the Write It Do It Competition.

Scholastic Scrimmage, another academic competition, tests students’ knowledge over a broad variety of subjects in a Jeopardy-style contest. ACCHS teams compete against teams of four students from other high schools; the matches are periodically shown on PBS.

Central’s team advanced to the television quarterfinals with a win over Whitehall last week.

Catholic Schools Week this year falls Jan. 31 to Feb. 6.

At Central we celebrate with school Mass, activities and competitions throughout the school. Also, members of the band and chorus join with students from the other Allentown Diocese high schools to perform at the Diocesan Music Festival, hosted this year by Notre Dame.