It wasn't birds, planes or even Clark Kent falling out of the sky Thursday afternoon at Wauka Mountain Multiple Intelligences Academy. Instead, it was close to 500 golf balls.

"It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen," third-grader Caleb Payne said after he watched Hall County Schools Superintendent Will Schofield pour the balls over the school's baseball field from high up in a helicopter.

Payne's sentiments were echoed by many of the students who counted down to the finale of Wauka Mountain's Golf Ball Drop fundraiser.

The event worked somewhat like golf, with the winning golf ball falling into a cup with a flag and scoring its owner $1,000. The school's Parent-Teacher Organization sold the balls for $5.

"(Winning) was the last thing on my mind," said TV18 Station Manager Ronny Childs, who had the winning golf ball. "The odds are just unbelievable."

Childs bought two golf balls, one from each of his grandsons who attend Wauka Mountain.

"The students really got involved," Principal Jo Dinnan said. "They kind of thought this was something they could contribute to."

Beth Moffett, the event's main organizer, said the school wanted to do the fundraiser because it was something different.

"With fundraising, you keep going to the same people and hitting up the same pockets," Moffett said. "There's only so much wrapping paper and candy that people want to buy."

Tammy Boggs, a special education pre-kindergarten teacher at Wauka Mountain, said the event was "marvelous."

"Just the support we received — as a teacher and a parent, it's not just getting to be a part of seeing the difference, but hearing what my son has to say about it," she said. "There's no way we could have done this without our staff and the community coming together."

Moffett said the more than $2,500 raised from the event will go toward new technology for students.

The prize money was donated by one of the event's sponsors and was not pulled from the money raised.

Editor's note: This story and headline has been updated to reflect a subsequent fund-raiser total.