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GREENSBORO - A slightly audible din of excited chatter lingered among a group of top graduates from Guilford County Schools as they waited for one shot at a free car.

Or maybe it was just the hum from the PA that a local morning news anchor used to emcee the annual Crown Automotive Cool To Be Smart program.

Either way, some big prizes - including laptop computers, scholarships and, yes, a new car - were handed out Sunday to members of the 2008 graduating class.

For most of the 375 students, the question wasn't whether they are going to college; it was where they are going to college. And then, what will they study.

Erica Zimmerschied, 18, will go for chemistry. Maybe even in her new car.

"I was just shaking," the Northwest High School graduate said. "I didn't know it was actually turning in the lock."

She was the big winner Sunday and decided to take a Dodge Avenger for her new ride.

Problem is, she's going to UNC-Chapel Hill. Freshmen there aren't allowed to take cars.

"Maybe, I'll try to park it off-campus and take a bus," she said.

For a few moments after the balloons and confetti fell around her, all Zimmerschied could do was laugh and try to catch her breath.

When her mom handed her a phone with her dad on the other line, Zimmerschied was speechless.

"I'm so happy for her," said Erin Lemmers, a friend who said Zimmerschied had been eyeballing that Avenger since the afternoon event began.

Lemmers added that Zimmerschied is one of the nicest people she knows.

Superlatives are easy to apply to the graduates gathered at Greensboro Coliseum Pavilion on Sunday.

To qualify for "Cool To Be Smart," a student must take at least five Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes and do well in each.

Last year, 4,278 Guilford County students took those classes.

"It's a challenge for the other end of the spectrum," said Sharon Ozment, co-interim superintendent of Guilford County Schools, who said it sometimes seems that school systems spend the most time on least successful students.

"What do you dangle?" she asked, when schools want to motivate the best and brightest students.

Catering some school programs to very smart students is important for their continued development, according to the National Association for Gifted Children.

Several of the graduates said they didn't think about things like winning a car as they pulled late nights studying or reading stacks of books.

Since the first year of "Cool To Be Smart," which drew 103 students in 2002, the program has steadily grown.

So, some points about the value of education must have been driven home to students.

Driving a new car home doesn't hurt, either.

Contact Gerald Witt at 373-7008 or gerald.witt@news-record.com