Principal Tim Youngblood has added incentive prizes for the SAT. If students score a 1250, or improve 250points from the PSAT, they are eligible to win a prize. The prizes are drawn at random.

“I wanted students to see an increase in their scores,” Youngblood said. “We want our students to see that their work can translate into not only higher results, but rewards here at school, too.”

Youngblood will also be looking for new ideas for prizes this spring.

“We will take some new ideas,” Youngblood said, “but we will likely keep the 12 parking spots and gift card for the school store.”

Students had the ability to pick between a parking spot, school store gift card, homecoming ticket, or custom school schedule.

“I chose the parking pass,” senior Anthony Gammo said. “I can get here two minutes before the bell, still get a really good parking spot, and not be late to my first hour class.”

Some students had a difficult decision on which prize to pick.

“I picked the homecoming ticket,” senior Dominic Neto said. “It was a hard choice between that or the school store gift card, but I ultimately picked the ticket.”

Although most students think this was a great idea, others disagree.

“I think this was a bad idea,” senior Erik Hoti said. “People will try to do bad on the PSAT on purpose, so they have a low score. Then they can get 250 points better on the SAT and have a chance to win the prizes which defeats the purpose.”

However, some students are happy with the prize incentive.

“I’m happy I picked one of the parking spots,”Gammo said. “I have left the house late a lot to get to school, but I still have the best student parking spot in the whole school.”

There will continue to be prizes for the SAT, hoping students do great for themselves and helping them get into a good college, if that’s their path. Youngblood also said higher scores will benefit students when they see the success of their school, and it may boost attendance, as well.