Students at Sycamore High School have new motivation to stay healthy thanks to a grant from the Bengals and the American Dairy Association Mideast.

Bengals running back Rex Burkhead presented the school with the $10,000 Bengals Fuel Up to Play 60 Hometown Grant. The grant will be used to upgrade the school's cycleroom with spin bikes that have desks attached and support a smoothie bar in the blended learning café.

"I love their idea of riding the bike and studying at the same time. I think that's a good way to get exercise in," said Burkhead. "I wish we had this stuff when I was in high school, especially for

breakfast, just having the smoothies there and ready to go to start the day off right is a great idea."

To encourage students to use the spin bikes, the school will launch a three month competition starting in January. The grade that logs the most hours in the cycleroom will win a field day in the spring.

"We think of ourselves here at Sycamore as a healthy learning environment for kids and trying to promote a lifestyle of health and wellness," said Jessica Johnson, Child Nutrition and Wellness Director for Sycamore Community Schools. "So to give them opportunities to get out of the typical classroom environment and go into an active learning lab where they're actually getting those neurons fired in their brains so they can really learn the information being presented is amazing."

Since 2014, the Hometown Grant program has provided more than 700 schools nationwide with funds and resources, resulting in more than one million students staying physically active and making healthier food choices.

"Investing in the health and wellbeing of our future generations is crucial and that beings with our students," said June Wedd, Vice President of Marketing for the American Dairy Association Mideast. "Having the opportunity to have things like smoothies gives kids more choices to choose dairy more often."

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," said Johnson. "At this age, it's very hard to get kids to get out of bed 15 minutes earlier to eat. So if they can eat when they're already at school, it's a win-win."

This is the third Hometown Grant the Bengals and the American Dairy Association Mideast have awarded to local schools since the program began.