Wail Alselwi — known to locals as “Wally” — is the co-owner and manager of Zack’s Finest Deli & Grocery in Staten Island, New York. What sets him apart from other bodega owners is his policy of rewarding students for getting good grades. Students who earn an average of 80% to 90% on their report card are rewarded by being allowed to choose whatever they want from the store. Those who score between 70% and 79% can take home $10 worth of items, while students with lower grades who show improvements also get goodies. The same goes for kids with perfect attendance and those who are awarded student of the month. If a student gets higher than 90%, Wally offers them their pick of goodies from the store, as well as a $100 bill and a t-shirt. He says he started the report card incentive in 2023 in a bid to inspire a neighborhood student, Zamier Davies (pictured above with Wally), to improve his grades. He promised the then-12-year-old that if he got good grades, he would give him something from the store for free. It worked: Davies first worked his way up to an 88% and chose an Oreo milkshake as his prize. Then he reached 89% and added an egg and cheese sandwich and chips to his prize. By the end of the year, Davies made the honor roll. Wally says a lot of kids then started coming in showing him their report cards, and that’s when he got the idea of rewarding them for their accomplishments. “I like seeing the smile on their faces,” said Wally. So many people have reached out asking how they can help Wally with his initiative that his brother started a GoFundMe campaign in his name — and so far it’s raised nearly $50,000. Wally says he couldn’t do it by himself. "The most important thing is you celebrate them and you show them that you really care about their hard work.”
