26 Sandy Hook Elementary Students To Perform In Super Bowl 2013 Pregame

People may be excited about Beyonce’s performance at Super Bowl XLVII, but another group of performers will be much more heart-wrenching than anything the pop superstar will put out.

According to USA Today, a group of 26 students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., will be singing “America the Beautiful” during the Super Bowl 2013 pre-game show on Sunday. In December, a tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary took the lives of 26 students and faculty, most of them young children. The Super Bowl pregame will be in part an effort to honor the memories of the shooting’s victims.

The students and their families will be flown down to New Orleans a few days beforehand by the NFL. On game day, the group of Newtown students will perform “America the Beautiful” live on CBS shortly before Alicia Keys sings the National Anthem.

It looks like the efforts of the NFL will make a moving tribute to the victims lost in the Newtown massacre, though it will be far from the first time the NFL has honored victims of the Dec. 14 Sandy Hook shooting.

Many NFL players have emblazoned their helmets, cleats, and gloves with messages of support for the Newtown community, and games have held moments of silence in honor of the Sandy Hook victims.

The New York Giants have played a particularly large role in the Newtown tributes due to New York city’s close proximity to the Connecticut town. The Giants have invited students and family onto the field after games and given personal support. Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz even visited the family of 6-year-old Jack Pinto, who was buried in Cruz’s jersey.

"It was a time where I just wanted to be a positive voice, a positive light in a time where it can be very negative. It was a good time," Cruz told USA Today about the visit. "They're a great family and they are really united right now at this time. It was good to see."