Matthew Morrison, an actor who earned a Tony nomination in 2005 for his role in the musical "The Light in the Piazza," introduced the performance.
From the stage, he told Ms. Herzfeld that a couple of months ago, he had performed with some of her students at a benefit concert for Parkland. "For us, it was a life-changing experience to see these inspiring young people channeling their intense feelings of hurt and rage and sorrow into art," he said.
One of those students, Tanzil Philip, reached out to the Tonys, asking to appear on the telecast tonight, Mr. Morrison said.
"The Broadway community showed up in our time of need and brought some much-needed light into the dark," Mr. Philip had written.
"Well, Tan, rather than inviting you on to this stage to say thanks to us, our Broadway family wants to give and say thanks to you, by sharing the stage with you and your classmates," Mr. Morrison said.
Just a week after the shooting, Ms. Herzfeld's students performed "Shine," an original song, at a CNN town hall meeting on gun violence.
"We're done with all your little games," they sang. "We're tired of hearing that we're too young to ever make a change. You're not going to knock us down. We'll get back up again."
In a statement in May, Ms. Herzfeld said that normally she would feel "humbled and grateful" to be recognized for her work, but that it "now means so much more" since her students "have taken to action through speech, performance and passionate honesty."
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