Each year the Colonial League honors its best and brightest scholar-athletes at the annual Colonial League All-Academic Breakfast.

One male and one female athlete from each school is recognized at this event for their excellence in the classroom and on the athletic field.

This year, the event was one of many events that could not take place in person because of the coronavirus pandemic. While the Class of 2020 has been deprived of many traditional rites of passage for high school seniors, Colonial League officials didn’t want their academic all-stars going without recognition. So they found a way.

Palisades and Saucon Valley athletic directors Brian Gilbert and Bob Frey put together avideo montage hosted by league president and Northern Lehigh AD Bryan Geist and Palisades principal and league principal representative Rich Heffernan. it was posted to YouTube Monday at noon and be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tymqZtprVXA&feature=youtu.be.

“Each year we meet and have breakfast and discuss some of the great things our student-athletes have been able to accomplish,” Geist said at the beginning of the video. “This is not how we envisioned this particular ceremony. In the past number of weeks we’ve had to Zoom, Canvas, Schoology, Google Classroom, to name a few.

“We’re in unprecedented times. We’ve had to cancel seasons. We’ve had to cancel award ceremonies and other senior activities. That is why the Colonial League thought it was important to continue this ceremony honoring some of the best in the Colonial League.”

Heffernan said a few words before introducing a video montage of all 26 nominees for the 2019-20 school year.

“Truly we recognize everything that is great about high school athletics,” Heffernan said. “They have been top performers in their respective sports. They have volunteered in their community. They have taken leadership roles in their schools and they demonstrated outstanding citizenship. It is truly an honor to recognize these students as part of the Colonial League tradition of academic all-stars.

Representing Northwestern are Hallie Bleam and Dillon Scott. Bleam is a two-sport athlete who participated in soccer and lacrosse. She plans to continue her education at Elizabethtown College. Scott, a swimmer and cross country runner, will go on to Northeastern University.

The following is a list of this year’s Colonial League All-Academic honorees. In alphabetical order by school, each school’s female athlete is listed first, with the male athlete second and their sports in parenthesis.

Bangor - Morgan Karasek (soccer, basketball, softball); Marino Bubba (cross country, track and field)

Catasauqua - Katherine Verenna (volleyball, cross country, track and field); Mason Schlofer (baseball)

Moravian Academy - Gabrielle Oudin (soccer, swimming, lacrosse); Julius Ewungken (soccer, basketball, track and field)

Notre Dame GP - Kelsey Priestof (volleyball, track and field); Alex Belarmino (soccer, lacrosse)

Northern Lehigh - Reagan Pender (cross country, track and field); Zachary Moyer (football, basketball, track and field)

Northwestern - Hallie Bleam (soccer, lacrosse); Dillon Scott (swimming, cross country)

Palisades - Amy Farese (cross country, track and field); Gus Yocum (football, basketball, track and field)

Palmerton - Erica Messics (volleyball, tennis); Braden Gower (football, track and field)

Pen Argyl - Megan Guthrie (cheer, basketball, track and field); Maxwell Houck (football)

Salisbury - Olivia Hoeing (basketball, track and field, swimming); Zachary Arner (golf, baseball)

Saucon Valley - Kennedy Morgan (volleyball, golf, lacrosse); Zachary Appel (soccer, tennis)

Southern Lehigh - Jenna Groeber (cross country, soccer, track and field); Krishna Annambholta (golf, tennis)

Wilson - Jillian Pote (cross country, soccer, track and field); Kyle Jones (swimming, track and field)