“Island Ock, I got my report card, man,” a young girl in braids says as she enters Zack’s Finest Deli & Grocery, a bodega in Staten Island, New York. “It’s better than ever.”
Her name is Madison and she’s a 17-year-old high school junior who dreams of becoming a professional basketball player one day. But until then, she’s focusing on her grades, according to a heartwarming TikTok.
“Madison!” exclaims Wail Alselwi, the “Island Ock” in question, manager and co-owner of Zack’s. Also known as Wally to regulars, he directs his attention to her report card.
“Last time it was 98, then it was 99. What is it this time?” he asks.
“Now it’s 100,” Madison says, proudly.
“You know what happens, right?” Alselwi responds, then hands her $100 and allows her to pick snacks from the store. She opts for Smarties, M&M’s and some other goodies.
Madison has been in before, showing off high marks and receiving her prize, like many other students on Alselwi’s TikTok account.
He says students who earn an average of 80 — 90% are awarded whatever they want from the store, and those who get between 70 — 80% can take home $10 worth of items. Students with lower grades who show improvement also get goodies, and the same goes for kids with perfect attendance or who are awarded student of the month.
If a kid gets 90% or higher, he offers them their pick of goodies from the store, as well as a $100 bill and a T-shirt.
“I like seeing the smile on their faces,” Alselwi tells TODAY.com. “Man, it makes me happy.”
Speaking to TODAY.com while behind his bodega’s counter, Alselwi pauses the conversation to help a customer, joking about a particularly high till of $67.
“Don’t be short, bro, be tall today,” he says, filling his shop with laughter.
Alselwi says he started the report card incentive in 2023 in a bid to inspire a neighborhood kid, Zamier Davies, to improve his grades.
“I just wanted to help him make the honor roll, and he couldn’t make it even though he worked so hard for it,” says Alselwi.
He promised the then-12-year-old that if he got good grades, he would give him something in 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 and chips to his prize. By the end of the year, Davies made the honor roll — and Alselwi’s video on the feat garnered millions of views.
“A lot of kids started coming to show me their report card,” he says, adding that kids from as far as Pennsylvania have stopped by.
Now an eighth grader looking forward to high school in the fall, Davies tells TODAY.com he’s thinking about a career in tech.
His uncle, Jerome Ivory, says that while the Oreo milkshakes were appreciated, his nephew found the strength from within to improve his marks.
“He was always good at his grades,” Ivory tells TODAY.com. “It was mostly a bet that he made with himself — and Wally.”
Alselwi is from Yemen and his three children still live there.
“I got my own kids back home, and I miss them, so it makes me happy to see other kids happy,” Alselwi says. “I see my own kids in front of me.”
Alselwi says he also finds joy from those who offer him encouraging words and blessings on TikTok.
So many people have reached out asking how they can help him with his initiative that his brother started a GoFundMe in his name — and it’s raised nearly $50,000.
“I cannot do it by myself,” says Alselwi. “My fans comment and they celebrate these kids with me and they acknowledge them with me. Let’s say I’m giving them $100 or if I’m giving them snacks for free or a T-shirt, to me, that does not matter. The most important thing is you celebrate them and you show them that you really care about their hard work.”
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