Milford Mirror

Local business pays students for 'A's

Written by Jill K. Dion
Monday, 23 January 2012 15:32

Milford students cashed in on more than $10,000 worth of A’s during the first semester of school.

Key Hyundai of Milford offered earlier in the school year to award local high school students a $10 gift card to the Westfield mall for each A they got the first marking period.

Well, the marking period ended recently, and nearly 300 students stopped by the dealership to collect their rewards.

Key Hyundai officials said the program was so successful, and so many students cashed in on their top grades, that the business went through its allotted $10,000 to fund the program for the year.

The program started as a “crazy idea” by general sales manager Sal Sinardi of Key Hyundai of Milford, company officials said, noting that students from Foran, Jonathan Law, Platt, and the Academy were invited to participate.

Jill Merriam, owner of Key Hyundai of Milford and Key Hyundai of Manchester, said she was really pleased with the results of the “Pays for A’s” campaign, and was sad to see it end so soon. The company had planned to run the program until the end of the school year.

“I am extremely proud of the Milford students and their academic success at reaching our $10,000 mark so quickly,” Merriam said. “We can’t wait to revamp the program to see how we can reach even more students next year.”

Kate Mayer, who handles community outreach for Key Hyundai of Milford, said the program may be offered in a different format next year, possibly changing to a gift card based on the student’s grade point average.

She said Sinardi came up with the idea for Pays for A’s after students asked Hyundai to advertise in a sports program. Sinardi said he didn’t want to be just another advertisement, and came up with the Pays for A’s program.

“The students had to simply come to the dealership with report card in hand, and bring their parent and a high school ID, and we paid up,” said Sinardi. “It was a great way to reward these kids for hard work, and to congratulate their parents for a job well done. We got to meet some pretty extraordinary kids. Milford should be very proud. I know I am.”

It was a great marketing idea, too, because high school students who will be driving soon will remember the Hyundai name, Mayer said.

Fran Thompson, principal at Jonathan Law High School, said the company called at the beginning of the school year and proposed the program. Thompson saw it as a great way to offer students an additional incentive for A’s. Administrators at the other Milford schools did, too, and they sent the word out to students and parents.

“What a great opportunity,” Thompson said. “We always want our kids to succeed and strive for A’s. And we’re always looking for ways to partner with the community.”

John Barile, Foran High School principal, agreed, saying, “It’s great to have the community supporting and helping us to motivate our students.”

Hyundai records indicate the business paid 230 students a total of $9,300 for 402 A’s, but that doesn’t include about 40 students who claimed their Westfield Connecticut Post mall gift cards before Hyundai started calculating the totals.

Mayer said the program began slowly. Students started to trickle in one by one to collect their gift cards. But as word spread, more students started to come in, and there were days when there were throngs of students in the dealership lobby.

“It turned into a real feel-good story,” Mayer said. “The salesman would get into it, and say, ‘Hey look at this kid who got six A’s.”

Students had two weeks after the issue date of their report cards to claim their awards. Of course, many more students received A’s during their first marking period, but not all of them took advantage of the program.

“Just look at the length of the honor roll,” one school administrator said. “There were many more A’s.”

At Foran High School, 88 students were paid for 225 A’s; at Law, 64 students were paid for 180 A’s; at Platt, 68 students were paid for 246 A’s; and at the Academy, 10 students were paid for 29 A’s.

The totals mean Hyundai paid more than the $10,000 it allotted, because gift cards come only in $20 increments, so the dealership rounded up whenever it was necessary. Plus, there’s a $3 American Express service fee for each $20 card..

“That’s a lot of cash — and a lot of happy, extremely bright high school students headed to the Connecticut Post mall, courtesy of Key Hyundai of Milford,” company officials said in a prepared press release.

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