_photo:_ Burlington Free Press

Vermont native Grace Potter returned to her alma mater, Harwood Union High School, to give some words and music to the students and accept the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Arts.

As the Burlington Free Press reports. Vermont governor Peter Shumlin was on hand to present the award to Potter, who spoke to an auditorium full of Harwood students and thanked her teachers there for their support, saying, “You have to give careful and tuned-in attention to the strengths” of young musicians like she received when she was a student.

Potter also performed some songs on piano before being joined by members of the Harwood Assembly Band for a rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”