Juan Torres, 13, said he knew something was funny the day his mother met him at the bus stop after school, rather than their usual meeting spot on the porch.

“I asked her if I was in trouble,” Torres said.

However, his mother broke some remarkable news: Torres would fly to New York City the following week to meet country/pop singer Taylor Swift.

“After that, I couldn’t stop smiling. I couldn’t sit down for more than three minutes. All I could think about was the waiting,” Torres said.

Torres and Rebecca Cannon, 12 , both students at C.W. Davis Middle School, were winners of an essay contest for Scholastic’s “READ NOW! with Taylor Swift.” More than 8,000 children from both the United States and Canada competed, but only 10 earned the chance to meet Swift.

“It was a pretty cool honor to have two winners from our school,” Principal Eddie Millwood said. “We’ve had a lot of contest winners in the past at the state and regional level, but I think this is the first time at the national level.”

The contest required participants to write a 250-word essay on the most memorable book they’ve read. The students each selected stories from their childhood. Cannon chose “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss and Torres picked “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.

In her essay, Cannon said the Dr. Suess book imparted some early life lessons.

“It taught me that it’s OK to be different because normal can be boring,” Cannon said.

The seventh-graders traveled to New York City in October, and stayed at a hotel downtown with a view of the Empire State Building, Cannon said. It was the first trip to New York for both of them.

Torres and Cannon, and about 200 students from across the nation, joined Swift at the headquarters of Scholastic Inc. Oct. 27, where the Grammy-winning superstar chatted and performed. “America’s Got Talent Host,” Nick Cannon, interviewed her on stage.

“I remember she said the smartest people are the coolest. That made me feel more special,” Torres said.

Swift shared songwriting tips, childhood reading memories and ended the event by performing one of her latest singles, “Mine.” Afterward, the 10 winners met with her in person for a photo and each got a guitar pick with Swift’s picture on it.

“She’s very tall,” Cannon said of the 5-foot-11-inch singer. “I think she was wearing 4-inch heels too.”

Back in their hometown, their seventh-grade peers were watching the event via webcast in the school’s auditorium.

Teachers also had the option to air the show in their classrooms.

“I think she had a great message for the students to hear,” Millwood said. “She said being a good reader made her a good songwriter because music is basically a story.”

Millwood added that it is the school’s initiative to work on writing in all content areas. The school discovered the contest through an e-mail from Scholastic, which was sent to language arts teachers. Seventh-grade teachers Laura Shaw and Shellie Moreland helped propel the essay contest schoolwide, and about 300 children sent in entries.

Shaw said it fit well with the school’s commitment to reading and writing, and the judges actually had a difficult time with the decision.

“I heard there was some debate about if they wanted two winners to be from the same school. But they said, ‘You know what? They won fair and square,’” Shaw said.

As fans of Swift, Cannon and Torres said it was an unforgettable experience. And winning has given them the confidence to continue with their writing.

“I think I’ll probably enter more essay contests now,” Cannon said.