Thirty Bastrop elementary students got a special surprise this holiday season — shiny, blue and red BMX bikes with matching helmets, gifted from Academy Sports and Outdoors for their exceptional behavior.

It was all part of the sports store’s annual bike donation, which benefits more than 4,000 boys and girls across 16 states. This year, for its 15th anniversary, Academy planned 140 giveaway events. Lost Pines Elementary School in Bastrop was chosen as one of the store’s 2016 giveaway sites.

On Monday morning, 30 chosen students were ushered into the school’s cafeteria. They sat on the floor in rows in front of a red curtain, which hid the gifts on stage. When officials pulled the curtain, the boys and girls cheered in excitement and ran to stand beside their bikes.

"I am happy forever," McKenna Bains, 7, said as she ran her fingers along the handlebars.

Lisandra Rodriguez, 7, said she felt proud.

The students were selected from a pool of first, second and third graders who had received "purple referrals" in the month of November. A purple referral is bestowed when a student is noticed displaying good behavior, Lost Pines Elementary School Principal Melinda Gardner said. They usually go to the school office to receive a prize, but last month, their names were also put into a drawing to win one of the bikes. The more purple referrals a student had, the more times their name was entered, Gardner said.

On Nov. 30, officials pulled the names of 10 first graders, 10 second graders and 10 third graders to receive the bikes, which are all specially ordered and can’t be found in stores, Bastrop-branch Academy Manager Clint Foster said.

Academy will give a total of 4,700 bicycles to kids in schools in the southeast, as well as to charities and nonprofits during the holiday season, Foster said.

"It’s really just to give back to our communities that our stores are in," he said.

He called the look on the kids’ faces when they see the surprise "priceless."

"It was really good to see that they’ve earned them," Foster said. "You can tell that they’re really happy that they did. That’s really nice."