Published June 30. 2026 04:11PM<\/p>\n
Seventeen of the highest achieving Liberty Freedom high school seniors attended an academic signing ceremony with their families and BASD officials at Moravian University\u2019s Haupert Union Building June 2. It was the 13th annual academic signing event.<\/p>\n
The ceremonial signing tied each student to the colleges an universities they will be attending to advance their educations in pursuit of their degrees and future careers.<\/p>\n
Now-retired Superintendent Dr. Jack Silva noted that their academic success was due to both the students and their families. \u201cYou are learning to your potential,\u201d as a result, said Silva.<\/p>\n
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Maureen Leeson drew historical parallels between Bethlehem\u2019s history and the class of 2026. \u201cThe story of Bethlehem is about its hard working citizens. That legacy belongs to all of us and now it belongs to all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parent Jeffrey Bays, whose son Andrew was among those recognized, said, \u201cI have always thought there should be something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Families and students enjoyed a buffet luncheon before the signing ceremony.<\/p>\n
Freedom HS academic scholars from the class of 2026 and the schools they will attend are: Kate Assad – King\u2019s College, Rilee Behar – Penn State University, Gianna Gerould Penn State University, Eliza Moore – Cornell University, Mia Napolitano – Cornell University, Benjamin Rader – American University, Cody Smith – Arizona State University, and Joseph Volkert – Lehigh University.<\/p>\n
Liberty HS academic scholars from the class of 2026 and the schools they will attend are: Andrew Bays – University of Syracuse, Owen Fraboni – Lafayette University, Morgan Hughes – Penn State University, Farida Ismail – University of Virginia, Anni Li – Villanova University, Lilah McClarin – Penn State Schreyer Honors College, Adrianna O\u2019Neill – Penn State Schreyer Honors College, Melissa Okumus Northeastern University, and Patrick Zhang – Tufts University.<\/p>\n
Seniors and their families enjoyed a buffet lunch before the academic signings took place.<\/p>\n
Assistant Superintendent Dr. Maureen Leeson, says, \u201cwe take incredible pride in our highest achieving students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liberty HS senior Andrew Bays introduces himself and says he\u2019ll attend the University of Syracuse to study architecture.<\/p>\n
Freedom HS senior Kate Assad gets a hug from her dad Abe after giving him a white carnation.<\/p>\n
Freedom seniors Cody Smith and Joseph Volkert sign their academic commitment letters for Arizona State University and Lehigh University.<\/p>\n
The eight Freedom HS seniors who attended pose with their signed letters of commitment.<\/p>\n
PRESS PHOTOS BY DANA GRUBBThe nine Liberty HS seniors in attendance pose with their commitment letters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published June 30. 2026 04:11PM Seventeen of the highest achieving Liberty Freedom high school seniors attended an academic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-232225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}