acechallengeSept. 15, 2016 - With the new school year underway, Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino today re-issued his challenge to all Westchester County students in grades 6 through 12: Win a free season pass to Playland by earning high achievement in the classroom. Now in its fifth year, the Astorino Challenge in Education (ACE) has grown in participation each year of its existence.

Last year, a new category to reward significant student improvement was added to the grades and attendance benchmarks. The three ways to win the ACE challenge are (one of the following):

  •  Final G.P.A of at least 3.8, 95 percent or A average, or better (depending on school’s grading system)
    -or-
  •  Perfect attendance for the entire school year.
    -or-
  • Improve grades a full grade point, letter or 10 percentage point improvement from the previous year’s final report card (Final 2nd year G.P.A must be at least a 2.0, 75 percent or C average).

“I’m so proud that the ACE challenge is in its fifth year. The fact that it has grown every year is testament to the drive and commitment that so many of our young people have to succeed in the classroom which we all know is so important to opening up a lifetime of opportunities,” said Astorino. “The ACE challenge simply serves as a little extra motivation for our students and to let them know we’re behind them and want them to do their very best in the classroom.”

Interested students who want to take the challenge can go to www.westchestergov.com/ace and register. To win the challenge, students will need to provide validation of their achievement from their school at the end of the school year. Children under the age of 18 must have permission from their parents to participate. The deadline to sign up is Sept. 30, 2016.

The free season pass to Playland will be good from the date of issue in June 2017 until the end of the season in September 2017 and includes free admission to the park and unlimited rides.
The passes are made available through the Westchester County Youth Bureau.