Selena Gomez gave the Telluride High School volleyball team the surprise of a lifetime. The 32-year-old Emmy Award nominee paid the students a visit while attending the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado over the weekend. But her appearance wasn’t a random decision; the athletes had asked the Wizards Beyond Waverly Place star to sing the national anthem at one of their games.
As seen in her Instagram carousel post, Selena shared an orange sign that the students had written, which read, “Selena Gomez, please sing the national anthem @ one of home games: Friday 6:00 p.m., Saturday 1:00 p.m.” The next slide in her post was a video of the moment she walked into the high school gym, where the students couldn’t contain their excitement. As everyone pulled out their phones to record the Hulu actress, she told them, “I saw the sign [you made].”
Other snapshots from her Instagram carousel included a group photo with the whole team and several candid images of Selena greeting other fans.
“They asked!!” the Only Murders in the Building star captioned her post. “Couldn’t help it, it’s my first time in Telluride!”
Several celebs commented on Selena’s carousel, including her boyfriend, Benny Blanco. The 36-year-old record producer dropped several heart-eyed and red heart emojis as a comment, while actress Zoe Saldana wrote, “The kindest heart indeed.”
The Telluride Middle and High School’s Instagram account also shared the photos and thanked the “Single Soon” artist for stopping by.
“Thanks @selenagomez for visiting TMHS and giving [love] to our volleyball teams!” the caption read.
After surprising the students, Selena made her way over to the 2024 Telluride Film Festival to discuss her latest film, Emilia Pérez. During a panel with her co-stars Zoe and Karla Sofía Gascón, the three actresses honored their director, Jacques Audiard.
“Thank you so much for having me Telluride!!” the Disney Channel alum captioned another Instagram carousel on Monday, September 2. “We are so grateful to share our work with you all and honor Jacques! I had so a wonderful time.”
After the festival, the co-stars spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about their movie, and Selena opened up about her preparation for the film.
“I was very terrified to meet Jacques,” Selena admitted. “I probably rehearsed for three months, and I didn’t think I’d get this role because I’m not fluent. When I got on board, I started working with Jacques and, with the help of everyone else, started figuring out what my character could be that would best suit me.
