Helping parents and educators in the battle for good grades, a
local business is offering incentives for students who earn a 3.0
grade point average or higher.
Matrix Hollister, a network gaming center, will give students
from Rancho San Justo Middle School one to four free hours of
playing time for good grades.
Helping parents and educators in the battle for good grades, a local business is offering incentives for students who earn a 3.0 grade point average or higher.
Matrix Hollister, a network gaming center, will give students from Rancho San Justo Middle School one to four free hours of playing time for good grades.
The goal is to provide an incentive for kids to study harder, said Greg Lombardo, co-owner of Matrix with Greg Saunders.
“Parents (were already) using Matrix as an incentive for kids to do better at school,” Lombardo said. “If they don’t get good grades and study, they can’t come here.”
“We’re trying to get involved in the community as much as we can, especially with the students. Most of our customers are students. It’s a way for us to give back to them.”
Matrix Hollister has 20 computers hooked up to a network that allows people to play games over the Internet utilizing a super-fast T-1 line. People in the same room can play computer games against each other.
The business is usually busy after school and on the weekends. Most customers are teenage boys, Lombardo said.
Because of its location in the Pinnacle Building, many customers are also Rancho students, which is the main reason the free hours are only open to Rancho students – right now.
“We want to see how it works first. Then, we can expand it to San Benito High School and (Marguerite) Maze (Middle School),” Lombardo said.
Each semester, students will earn one free hour for a GPA between 3.0 and 3.4, two hours between 3.5 and 3.9 and four for a 4.0 GPA.
Rancho seventh grader Peter Villareal has been working on getting his grades higher since he heard about the free hours. His worst grades are in math, he said. His mom, Monica Villareal, has used Matrix as motivation for Peter.
“I think that it’s a good idea. It’ll give him an incentive to get better grades,” she said. “This is a good place. He’s been coming here for a while.”
When officials at Rancho were approached with the idea, they supported it. Notices and fliers were sent out to parents before fall semester ended Jan. 16, according to counselor Bill Jacinto. Report cards should reach home by early next week.
“It’s a great idea because I think it shows the business community is supporting students and schools,” Jacinto said. “It’s very important – anything that we can do to motivate students to academic success is a great thing.”
Matrix Hollister’s hours are Monday through Thursday 3 to 9 p.m., Friday 3 p.m. to midnight, Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight and Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Matrix Hollister is located at 341 Tres Pinos Road in the Pinnacle Building. For more information, call 630-9050 or visit www.matrixhollister.com.
