On March 2nd, a devastating tornado struck a small southern Indiana town, damaging homes and buildings and destroying the local school.
Led by senior Ty Griffin, students from the Henryville Junior-Senior High School participated in an online contest to bring Lady Antebellum to play at the town. Not expecting to win a real visit from the Grammy Award-winning band, the teens were thrilled when the act arrived to surprise them with a private, prom-style show at the downtown arena in Louisville.
According to singer Hillary Scott, numerous high schools applied on behalf of Henryville, including several from Northern Wisconsin and even Henryville rival Silver Creek High School from Sellersburg, Indiana. She added that Silver Creek was the band’s original pick, but the students there gave up the win in support of Henryville’s bid.
“That was just such, honestly, an encouraging thing to think that those high schoolers, that generation, they’re that helpless, they want to help each other that much,” Scott said. “It was definitely an easy decision.”