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WESLEY CHAPEL
These 13 kids are the envy of Watergrass Elementary.
They were plucked out of Susan Fischer's fifth-grade class on Tuesday morning, the lucky few who will get free Apple iPads and a possible appearance in an ad campaign for the devices.
"Very cool," said Brian Buchanan, 11. "It's beyond belief. I'm going to listen to music, I'm going to play games on it."
Most of the other, unpicked students tried to be good sports, although a few sniffed back tears.
"I'm jealous," Fischer admitted with a chuckle.
How did 13 get so lucky?
Last month, as about a dozen kids in Fischer's class peered into the glowing screen of an Apple iPad, a school district official snapped some pictures. Andy Dunn needed images of youngsters using technology in the classroom for an upcoming presentation.
Brandon Maldonado, the school's instructional technology specialist, sent a few of Dunn's pictures to Andrea Barr, the local Apple sales representative who deals with the school.
She loved the photos. "My heart melted," Barr said. Then she forwarded them to her bosses.
Barr especially liked the group shot where the kids had genuinely excited faces. It was so perfect, Barr said. Almost like an advertisement you'd see in a magazine or on a billboard.
But, "believe it or not, it was purely serendipitous, it was purely a 'wow' moment (for the kids)," she said on Tuesday.
The shots eventually got the attention of John Couch, Apple's vice president of education, and he's very interested in using them for an ad campaign, Barr said.
Neither Dunn nor the Pasco County School District will get paid for the picture. But the 13 students will each get an Apple iPad mailed to their homes in the coming weeks.
The 'tweens squirmed in their seats with excitement Tuesday as Barr gave a demo of what will soon be their new techno toy.
Francisco Pulgarin, 10, said he couldn't wait to get his iPad and do research and play his favorite video games on his new "wonderful gift."
Elisha Trujillo, whose daughter Megan, 11, is among those slated to receive an iPad, is also excited about the gadget.
"It catapults (the students) into the future and gives the technology they're going to need to survive," Trujillo said.
Ebony Windom can be reached at ebony.windom@yahoo.com.
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