With a frozen custard on the line, Central Junior High School student Carmen Caffey left nothing to chance.

The eighth-grader’s midterm report card had nothing but “A” grades — seven in all — to guarantee she received a free cup of custard Tuesday courtesy of Culver’s Restaurant.

While scraping the bottom of her cup with a spoon, Caffey said she could think of only one incentive that might have trumped the rich flavor of frozen custard.

“Twenty dollars for every A!” she said. “That would be cool.”

For the 400 students at Central with passing grades, the choice of a chocolate or vanilla custard was cool enough.

“It’s a good reward,” said eighth-grader Courtney Davidson.

Mellisa Goreham, a counselor at Central assigned to the Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities, or WRAP program, said the idea was to provide positive reinforcement for students who worked diligently in math, English and other subjects.

“We’re proactively encouraging kids to do well in class,” she said.

The custard treats also sent a message to about 100 Central students who didn’t get them, because they had either an “F” grade or “incomplete,” that more was expected of them at school, Goreham said.

Central Junior High School students, from left, ninth-grader Sarah Clark, eighth-grader Devin Craig and eighth-grader Emma McClelland line up for custard from Culver's employee Ashley Wagner. Students who received all passing midterm grades were treated Tuesday after school.

Those students were required to develop a plan to improve their grades at the same time their classmates ate dessert outside the school, Goreham said.

Travis Bradbury, manager of Culver’s, 3100 W. 33rd St., said the event was something of a test for the store’s employees. Feeding 400 people out of the back of a truck was no easy task.

“This is the first time we’ve ever done an ice cream give-away,” Bradbury said. “But this is great. They deserve it.”