Back to school jitters were put to rest and turned to excitement as HEAT forwards Caron Butler and Sean Lampley arrived bright and early to Coral Terrace Elementary School in Miami to serve as crossing guards for the young students, distribute HEAT pocket folders, shoot hoops with the kids and sign autographs.

“It was a pleasure to have the HEAT in town. I felt honored,” said Coral Terrace principal George Suarez. “This was a great idea. The children need some kind of motivation.”

Bringing along Burnie the HEAT mascot, the high-flying HEAT Xtreme Team and the Fireball Express, the HEAT pleasantly surprised students and their parents with an entertaining and out of the ordinary school morning, complete with basketball shooting contests and upbeat music to wake up the crowd.

“I was surprised when I turned the corner – the first thing I saw was a (Caron) Butler jersey,” said Randy Beach, who was dropping off his 8-year-old stepson Jonathan. “We follow the HEAT, and this is something to really get the kids excited about – a great incentive for the new school year.”

The HEAT chose Coral Terrace as the event’s site to recognize the school’s impressive and drastic improvement on their FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) school performance grading; going from a “D” in 1998-99 to an “A” in 2002-03. By acknowledging this school’s outstanding achievements, the HEAT hopes that Coral Terrace will serve as a role model for other schools that are having difficulty with the FCAT.

“We are celebrating that we are an ‘A’ school,” said Suarez. “The HEAT came out to show their appreciation for us.”

Along with new classes, teachers and books, students at Coral Terrace certainly had a first day back to school to remember.

“I felt like I was at the Arena or something, it was so fun,” said fourth-grader David Ramis. “The HEAT are my favorite team, and this was so great. I wish we could do this everyday.”