Going into a new school year often elicits new changes. In this case, Pocket Points is a new program that has been all the rage among LHS students.

“Its an app that when you lock your phone, you gain points and earn incentives,” said senior Owen Ganzer.

Pocket Points rewards students for staying off their phones during school hours by giving one “point” every 20 minutes. The school hours spans from 7:50 a.m. to 2:37 p.m. During PLC days, points can be earned from 8:30 a.m. to 2:37 p.m.

“I needed a project for help desk and I got the idea from my cousin,” said Owen Ganzer about the apps implementation.

Ganzer is able to keep an eye on each student using the app, making sure no one is manipulating the system to earn more points than available.  

Ganzer said, “No one is hacking it because I monitor how many points people gain each day. If they gain more than the amount of points eligible for a day, I look into it.”

Once students have earned a certain amount of points, they can use those points to purchase different gifts. These gifts include food items from the cafeteria, free school T-shirts, and other prizes from teachers using the app. Currently, the most expensive prize is reserved seating for graduation, priced at 325 points.

Several local business are also participating in the reward system as well, such as Gelsosomo’s Pizza and TCBY. Both businesses offer discounts on menu items.  

As for the future of the app, “It’s up to whoever takes it over,” said Owen Ganzer.

The app is free to use and can be downloaded through the app store.