Peekskill Faces John Jay in First Round of MSG's "The Challenge"

Editor's Note: The following release was submitted by the "MSG Varsity." If you would like to post your news to Patch, click here.

---------------

The new season of MSG Varsity’s award winning high school quiz show, “The Challenge”, will feature a first round match-up between Peekskill High School and John Jay High School on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. on Cablevision’s Optimum, Channel 14.

Peekskill will compete against 31 other schools from Westchester-Hudson Valley during the Regional Rounds as they look to qualify for the Tri-State Championship Playoffs.

Back for his fourth season as host of “The Challenge” is Jared Cotter, host of “MSG Varsity’s Talent Show” and a popular semi-finalist from American Idol.  Cotter will serve as moderator, testing competing teams on their knowledge of history, arts and literature, current events, math, and science in front of a live studio audience.

The Peekskill team is represented by: Mikyla Abdul-Azim, Michael Snell (Captain), Ayomide Jegeded, Andrew Wise, (Alternates) Diana Barreto and Toluwanimi Jegede. The academic advisor is Greg Erickson.

“The Challenge” includes 192 high schools from the entire tri-state area — Long Island (with Nassau and Suffolk as two distinct regions), the Bronx, Brooklyn, Westchester/Lower Hudson Valley, New Jersey and Connecticut.  Long Island will be represented by 32 high schools from Nassau County and 32 high schools from Suffolk County. A new match-up can been seen every Sunday through Friday at 6:30 pm, on MSG Varsity, Cablevision’s Optimum Channel 14.  

Participating schools advance through a series of elimination rounds, with one school in each region being crowned regional champion and winning $2,500 for their school. The winning teams from each region go on to “The Challenge” Championship where they square off in a Tri-State Showdown. The school awarded the title of Tri-State Champion will receive $10,000 in prize money and each student participating in the final “Challenge” Championship game will receive $500.

For more information on “The Challenge,” please log onto www.msgvarsity.com.