Selena Gomez heads back to her middle school, gives advice to students
Selena Gomez made a surprise visit to her old school, Danny Jones Middle School in Mansfield, Texas, on Monday.
During her time at the school, the chart-topping artist, 27, met with students and showed her close friends and her team some of her old spots.
In a video posted by the Mansfield Independent School District, Gomez takes over the school's PA system, announcing to the students, "Hello, students of Danny Jones Middle School, this is Selena Gomez talking to you."
She also explains why she wanted to stop by in the video documenting the experience.
"This trip, I wanted to take my best friend Courtney and also some of my people from my label just to show them where I grew up and how proud I am of where I’m from,” she shares.
"Some of my teachers I got to see again, and they were part of my life for so long," she adds.
According to a blog post from the school district, the singer is shooting a documentary about her early years.
A former coach of Gomez's, Stephani Gray, appears in the school's video to explain what the pop star was like as a student.
"As a student, Selena was so humble, and she was very kind," she says. "She had a really kind, soft spirit. Hard, hard worker. Real humble. Just a really neat kid.”
She also shares a memory about the moment Gomez told her she was moving to Florida to appear in a Disney film.
"She said, 'Oh I’m just going to be in a little Disney film,' and I said, 'Oh. Okay,' because sometimes middle school kids kind of exaggerate."
During her visit, Gomez also offered some advice to students and encouraged them to be kind to one another.
"What I would tell them is that it’s really hard, but it’s worth it," she says about school. "I wasn’t a straight-A student by all means, but I think it’s really important, and I think it’s also important to make sure that you're being kind to someone."
"Just encourage them in their school work and know that anything is possible for them," she added.
