Imagine your school principal rallying the junior class, telling them that they are legitimate candidates to win a pre-owned 2004 pearl-white Cadillac CTS. No conditions. No catch. All one has to do is be present the day of the Science FCAT.

Sounds too good to be true? That’s what Palmetto Senior High is doing for this year’s junior class.

“I think it’s really cool and a really good incentive,” junior Julio Macias of Palmetto said. “I know that my buddies and I are going to study. If they hadn’t brought it up I would’ve probably Christmas-treed it or written my name backwards or something.”

Because the new owner of the car will be determined by a raffle, everyone is a legitimate contestant. If a student gets a five on the test, he or she acquires six raffle tickets, whereas a person who gets a one will receive two tickets.

“It’s good because it’s not like the school is favoring nerdy kids,” Macias said.

However, those who do not win the car will not be left uncompensated for their efforts. The top 500 students with the highest scores will receive a $20 dollar gas card while students who pass with a three or higher get to pick their parking spots for next year.

“I thought it was awesome and that our principal was crazy. I’ve never heard of anyone giving away a car and gifts to take an exam,” Palmetto junior Ryan Hand said.

The idea started when Palmetto Principal Howard Weiner read that a school district in Tennessee was encouraging students to register for AP classes by offering them an opportunity to win a car if they received a three or higher on the exam.

“As a high school principal, we have to do something to encourage 11th graders to not only take the test, but to take it seriously. It’ll dictate whether we keep our ‘A’ status as a school,” Weiner said.

“Sometimes you just have to be creative and think out of the box to motivate young people to take this test seriously.”

In order to uphold the school’s reputation, Weiner gathered the junior class in the auditorium on Feb. 15 to announce the news.

“At first, I thought it was going to be the usual boring rally, but then he announced the second and third prizes students would get if they took the Science FCAT,” Macias said. “When he announced the first prize, everyone just went insane and started chanting ‘Weiner, Weiner!’”

The raffle will be held on Sept. 12, and students are not passing up the opportunity to win the pre-owned Cadillac.

“I’ll most likely end up looking at my notes through the last two years of science,” Macias said.