Retired Palm Beach County teacher and her Brilliant Bus make Super Bowl debut

The Palm Beach Post

At age 78, Estella Pyfrom made her Super Bowl debut in the third quarter Sunday.

The retired teacher’s Brilliant Bus, a computer lab on wheels, and a bus load of Pahokee students got a very pricey 60 seconds in the most watched airtime of the year, courtesy of Microsoft.

“We are extremely pleased. We are happy to play a part to make her Brilliant Bus even more brilliant,” Microsoft spokesman Lou Gellos said.

Pyfrom, who taught in Palm Beach County schools for 50 years, was pleased too.

She has invested her entire retirement savings and more – a sum that exceeds $1 million — in her endeavor to bring technology to kids who don’t have it. Along the way, her work has been recognized by local business leaders, CNN, even the White House.

Work began a couple of months ago on the advertisement that was shot in Palm Beach County.

“My family always has a Super Bowl party and I usually find something else to do,” Pyfrom admits. But not this time. Instead, she was filled with anxiety heading into the third quarter knowing that her moment was coming and worrying that the incessant phone rings and text message pings would distract in the critical moment.

“It was crazy, but in a good way,” Pyfrom said from her home in suburban West Palm Beach.

The spot is narrated by rapper Common, who is reciting passages from speeches by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
“The real question that needs to be asked as well as answered is what is it that we can do that is unique, that is impactful,” Common says.

And then, “This is Estella Pyfrom and this is my Brilliant Bus. … I had an idea. A bus that brings technology to the kids that need it most …”

Pyfrom sought help to make that dream a reality. That help included a $67,000 grant she got two years ago from Microsoft’s YouthSpark program.

“We’ve been following her ever since,” Gellos said.

When the opportunity came to pick some of Microsoft’s best work in that vein, she was an obvious choice, Gellos said.

“Hers is a perfect example of how technology can really help folks and the idea someone would be able to set up something like this is great — an example of what everyone should want to do, ” Gellos said.

Pyfrom wants to do more.

She estimates she’s reached more than 60,000 children and is shooting for a million by the end of 2015. The bus is on the road four days a week from Riviera Beach to Lake Worth to West Palm Beach to Pahokee. Over the summer, the bus rolled up to serve children in six states in 10 days.

She’s heard from folks as far away as Africa who want to replicate her concept, and she’s eager to help.
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Pyfrom figures the idea spread even further in that one minute.

The commercial was shot before Christmas break, but that wasn’t the last she saw of Microsoft’s people. They sent a crew back shortly after to update every one of the 17 computers on the Brilliant Bus and supplied 28 tablets as well.

Sonja Isger

Palm Beach Post