In addition to meeting stars like Oprah Winfrey and John Legend, students at a question and answer session with the cast and crew of “Selma” got another surprise Sunday.

“Selma” director Ava DuVernay presented Selma High School principal Aubrey Larkin a check for $75,000 to be used for anything the school might need.

“[Paramount] talked about wanting to give back to the school district and the community and this is the way they could do it,” said acting Selma City Schools superintendent Larry Dichiara. “They talked about the fact that they’ve used our schools on numerous occasions to have these meetings, and they just wanted to give back.”

The presentation was a surprise to the audience, who were already excited to meet with the likes of Winfrey, Legend, Common and David Oyelowo, who portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the film.

“When all that was over and they were about to dismiss they said they had one presentation they needed to make,” Dichari said. “So they gave the microphone to Ava, and she said on behalf of the Paramount Pictures and the production companies, they wanted to make a gift to Selma High School in the amount of $75,000.”

Dichiara said that even though he hasn’t had the opportunity to speak with Larkin about how he intends to use the money, there’s no doubt that it will help the school tremendously.

“I thought it was very generous of them to do that. No one asked them to do that. And the fact that they did it on their own, they understand the importance of this movie in regard to history,” Dichiara said. “What their movie has allowed to happen is for the Civil Rights Movement, specifically as it pertained to the Voting Rights Act, come to life for a lot of kids who have no clue the sacrifice and just how the conditions were years ago.”

Attempts to reach Larkin on Martin Luther King Jr. Day were unsuccessful.