Nearly 100 third-graders, many of them from low-income families, erupted in screams during an assembly at a Tustin elementary school Monday.
They had just learned that each of them would be getting a free bicycle.
Jeane Thorman Elementary School was chosen by a San Diego cycling nonprofit — Bikes for Kids — after the students won an essay contest explaining what “empathy” means. But the extent of their reward was a secret until the assembly.
Initially, just four of the students were told they had won a bike. Then four more were told they’d won because of their writing.
Then — voila! — the curtain was pulled back to reveal a stage filled with bicycles.