St. John's Catholic School students arriving at their annual jogathon were surprised to find their principal's office magically transported to the middle of Napa's Rotary Park during the Oct. 21 fundraiser.

School principal Nancy Jordan's desk, chairs, computer, printer, lamp -- even her coffee cup -- were all shanghaied to the middle of the grassy field, while students ran laps to raise money for the school.

The 200 plus students, wearing matching jogathon T-shirts, began by running to the event theme song, "Dancing in the Streets." Students jogged in shifts, with pre kindergarten through third grades running before the upper grades took over the field.

Jordan both "worked" and ran with the students, inviting groups of them to run around her desk. Jordan even jogged on top of her desk, shouting encouragement through a bullhorn.

St. John's student council members egged her on, dancing around her "office" and singing along to the student selected music.

"The best part of the jogathon was seeing all the classes not only doing good things for the school but having fun doing it.

"Seeing Mrs. Jordan dance on her desk; that was a plus," said eighth grader and student body president Jeffrey Gerlomes.

"I was just amazed at how the whole school worked together to make a difference and have some fun," said jogathon chair Katie Batt. "It makes me really happy to be at the school."

Students from next door New Tech High even got into the spirit, as a few ran laps around the track during their lunch break.

A team of adult volunteers handed out cups of water and counted laps while the running and sometimes walking students circled the field.

As the final hour passed, passing cups of water gradually descended into pouring pitchers of water into open mouths and then over sweaty heads.

By 3 p.m., St. John's students had run more than 6,521 laps, drank 3,000 cups of water and raised $26,000 for the school.

St. John's Catholic School is Napa's oldest Catholic school, dating back to 1912.