Brad Paisley returned to his home state of West Virginia over the weekend to participate in the grand re-opening of an Elkview school that was destroyed by flooding in 2016.
According to Taste of Country, he said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Herbert Hoover High School, “This is the nicest high school I have ever seen. I can't tell you how amazing it is to see something that devastating and that terrible turned into something so inspiring.”
He continued, “High school can be a very difficult time in a student's life because it's filled with trivialities. You're worried about how you'll fit in, about what you're wearing, if you're popular and doing well in classes. But what you've been given here is a glimpse of something much larger. It's been a glimpse of the real world and the wonderful things that human beings can do for one another in the face of disaster.”
Local news channel WSAZ reports that Paisley played a selection of hits for the students at the newly-opened high school after watching the Herbert Hoover Huskies scrimmage against his own alma mater, John Marshall High School in Glen Dale, West Va.
The “Perfect Storm” singer has been a key player in the rebuilding efforts, sending a $100,000 donation from his Paisley Foundation and raising over $1 million through GoFundMe.