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Carrie Underwood's surprise visit to choir students led to smiles, tears of joy

Underwood popped in on choir students from Nashville's Andrew Jackson Elementary School as they rehearsed to sing one of her songs at the CMA Music Festival.
/ Source: TODAY

Carrie Underwood gave a group of Tennessee elementary school students the surprise of their lives!

The country music superstar popped in on choir students from Nashville's Andrew Jackson Elementary School last month as they rehearsed to perform her song "The Champion" at the CMA Music Festival.

On Monday, the CMA Foundation shared a behind-the-scenes video of Underwood's visit with the kids. The group's school is a beneficiary of CMA Foundation funding.

Earlier this year, students in the school's honor choir produced a video of themselves singing "The Champion," which caught the foundation's attention. That led to an invitation to perform on June 9 at Nashville's Nissan Stadium as part of the CMA Music Festival.

The heartwarming video shows music teacher Franklin Willis preparing his singers for their big performance. As the students rehearse, Willis tells viewers that Underwood is about to surprise them.

"This will be something they will remember for a lifetime," Willis says.

Sure enough, when the "Love Wins" singer enters the room, they scream in joy as they run to hug her. Some even shed tears.

Carrie Underwood surprises elementary school choir
Students in the honor choir were thrilled by Underwood's surprise visit.CMA Foundation/YouTube

Underwood says she got the idea to visit the "incredible" young singers after she saw the video of them performing her song.

"You could see how much love and thought and hard work was put into this," she says.

When she heard the singers were rehearsing nearby, she decided to check them out for herself.

"I just wanted to drop by and give my love and encouragement," she says.

As for the students, they were moved by their country music hero showing up in person to cheer them on.

"I never thought that it was going to be, like, Carrie Underwood caring about us. It was really special," one young singer gushes.