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Students get instruments and selfies with hit singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha

This week the 800 students of Jefferson High were surprised by singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha with a big gift: $80,000 worth of musical instruments and a live performance. The gift was compliments of the nonprofit Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, along with event marketer StubHub, which announced last year it would commit $1 million in an effort to provide musical instruments to schools. Rexha, co-writer of the hit song “The Monster,” this week has a new No. 1 song on the rap charts, “Me Myself & I.” She performed for a rapt audience of assembled students including Jefferson’s band members and posed for a few selfies with students.

According to the LAUSD, the donation will support the Jefferson school band and allow student-musicians a total of 2,040 additional hours of practice time in class each year.

Located in South Los Angeles, Jefferson has a long history of producing musical talent, counting singer Etta James and saxophonist Dexter Gordon as alumni.

The school, which has struggled with performance and academic progress for decades, was recently part of a court settlement between the district and the teachers union, aimed at rectifying the practice of sending less experienced teachers based on seniority to high-needs schools. Jefferson was also hit hard in the fall of 2014 with a scheduling crisis after hundreds of students were left without proper classes due in part to a malfunctioning MiSiS computer system.