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The CUNY Athletic Conference announced the winners from their StudentsFirst Rewards Program during CUNY Night at MCU Park on Wednesday, June 24th. Brian Salmeron of Brooklyn College and Maximo Bonilla of York were awarded the top prizes of free tuition for a year. Nine additional winners received prizes, including various electronic devices and CUNYAC gift bags. Each winner and a guest received tickets to watch the Brooklyn Cyclones take on the Tri-City Valley Cats from an MCU Suite.

“This is really amazing,” said Salmeron. “I thought I was going to lose but this is a great feeling. My cousin Lisenia won last year and once I saw that, I really wanted to win this year.”

“I feel good,” said Bonilla. “Last year, I came in fourth place so I came into this year with a bigger desire to win and I accomplished my goal.”

The CUNY Athletic Conference started the StudentsFirst Rewards program as an initiative to create an immersive experience for students who attend CUNYAC tournaments or play in a CUNYAC/MCU Intramural Championships. To earn points, CUNY students must attend CUNYAC Championship venues. Students use an online ticketing system prior to the event and check in at the ticketing desk upon arrival. Only current CUNY students are eligible for prizes and the name on your CUNY ID must match the name registered online. The points are totaled following the end of the semester and the winners receive some incredible prizes.

The StudentsFirst Program has proven to be a success these past three years with increased attendance at a number of the CUNYAC Championships and having representation from all CUNY campuses, not just CUNYAC member schools. The top ten point-getters this year averaged 466.5 points, while last year they averaged only 268.5 points--a 74% increase.  Program participation increased by 30% from last year and we hope to continue increasing program participation in 2015-16.

The competition has improved every year and with the program continuing to build, it will be more and more important to get to every event you can so pay attention to cunyathletics.com for information on where to score points.

StudentsFirst Rewards Top 10 - 2014-15