Ms. Lesley Escobar of Riverside High School, and Ms. Gianna Ortiz of Sacred Heart High Schools won First and Second Prize in the Old Croton Aqueduct Essay Competition. Escobar and Ortiz received $500 and $300, plus they won the same cash awards for their schools. The prize also includes a free class trip to visit the 26-mile-long, tree-topped trail.
The winning essays are personal reflections on the historic tunnel and trail. They are published at www.aqueduct.org. Teachers at Lincoln, Roosevelt and Barack Obama School for Social Justice also
enthusiastically encouraged students to learn about local history. All ten contestants, from five high schools, earned the judges’ admiration for outstanding compositions and hard work!
The Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park is a linear, 26-mile-long trail in New York’s Westchester County. More than seven miles of the trail winds through Yonkers and includes scenic views of the New Jersey Palisades cliffs, Tibbetts Brook Park and northwest Yonkers’ late Victorian architecture.
The trail also gives easy access to the award-winning daylighted Saw Mill River Park, and is close to several Yonkers MetroNorth train stations. From the Croton Dam to Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx, the trail passes through 12 towns and is a scenic byway beloved by locals and many day-trippers.
The Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct, at www.aqueduct.org, sponsored this contest to raise public awareness of the Old Croton Aqueduct and trail. The Friends is a non-profit volunteer organization formed to protect and preserve the Old Croton Aqueduct in both Westchester County and New
York City.
