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Country singer Brad Paisley surprises high schoolers at graduation ceremony

High school students in Illinois got the sendoff of a lifetime at their commencement ceremony Friday night.
/ Source: TODAY

Country singer Brad Paisley played a surprise concert for high schoolers at their graduation ceremony on Friday night in Illinois.

The appearance in South Barrington, a suburb of Chicago, was the grand prize in a social media contest Paisley announced in May, asking students to tell him what they’d miss most after graduating from high school.

The students from Barrington High School rose to the challenge, with the high school’s student-run television station uploading and sharing a video response.

On Friday, it seemed he had picked his winner, announcing with a tweet, “This is what a winning video looks like…” and sharing the video on his feed.

In the video, students tell Paisley all the things they want to do, and set it to the music of Paisley’s hit, “Last Time for Everything.”

Less than an hour after his post, a teacher at the high school shared a video of him performing, and tweeted about his comments to the students at the commencement.

Other members of the audience shared photos from the Willow Creek Community Church, where the commencement took place, including the district’s superintendent of human resources, Mary Dudek.

“Who needs Nashville when you get Brad Paisley in Barrington!” she tweeted.

Senior Nick Bart tweeted a photo with a thank you message to Brad Paisley and the singer responded afterwards.

“Brad Paisley thank you for the surprise!!!!” Bart posted on a photo, adding in his tweet, “I am speechless right now #bucketlist.” Paisley retweeted the message, replying, “Very emotional for me!”

The singer also shared a video of the performance on his Facebook page and continued to retweet messages from the high schoolers through the evening.

The high school appearance was a special stop on Paisley’s Weekend Warrior World Tour, which kicked off May 18 and continues through September 24.

Paisley will also perform in the TODAY summer concert series on Rockefeller Plaza, August 4.

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