A chorus of 26 students from Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., are flying to New Orleans today in advance of their performance, which will take place at the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The 26 students, whose names the NFL has not announced to respect their privacy, will perform “America the Beautiful” with Jennifer Hudson during the Super Bowl’s pregame show. The number of students was chosen to match the number of victims — 26 — who died during the Sandy Hook shootings.

“The way it flows is, we will have ‘America the Beautiful,’ then the national anthem, and then it’s the coin toss, and then kick,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the Hartford Courant.

All NFL teams paid tribute to the tragedy by wearing helmet stickers and pins during a game in December.