Minnesota Vikings Running Back Toby Gerhart Visits Paideia Academy

staff and students knew in October that they'd .

On Tuesday, they got to celebrate it with a celebrity.

Minnesota Vikings running back Toby Gerhart and his dad, Todd Gerhart, dropped by the school to present the $10,000 check and to celebrate by talking and playing games with students for a couple hours, according to a press release.

In addition to the grant money and celebrity appearance, the school got to keep the equipment that NFL Play 60 provided for the event, including footballs, jump ropes and weights, the release says.

The Apple Valley charter school was one of 32 schools nationwide to win a $10,000 grant in the NFL Play 60 Back to Football Friday contest, which awarded schools money for health and wellness programs based on their school's show of NFL spirit.

More than 1,200 schools in Minnesota alone applied for a grant.

Paideia's 22-student leadership elective class and teacher Anne Simon worked on the grant materials.

They organized a week's worth of health activities for the school, wrote essays about why health and wellness were important to the school and set up the culminating spirit day where students wore Vikings garb and other favorite sports apparel to school.

Ideas for what the money could fund include installing a rock climbing wall in the gym and putting money toward equipment for more after-school sports clubs, Simon said in October.

Read the full story about the grant in .