VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A commanding officer in the U.S. Navy just returned home from a seven-month deployment USS Nitze — but she wanted to make her homecoming extra special.

Cmdr. Zoe Bernadette Arantz returned home Tuesday from a long deployment on the Nitze, a Burke-class destroyer.

Instead of meeting her seventh-grade daughter Sophia at home that day, she decided to surprise her earlier, when she was at school at Saint Gregory the Great Catholic School.

The school, which is in Virginia Beach, filmed the reunion in a two-minute video that was later posted on Facebook.

The video shows a brief message from Arantz to her daughter, during which she says she hopes to see her soon and hears she’s doing well in school.

“I can’t wait to see you; I miss you so much,” Arantz said in the message.

The message was played on a big screen in front of Sophia and other students before Arantz entered the room to reunite with her daughter.

“Thank you, Commander Arantz for your unwavering service to our country, thank you, Sophia, for your sacrifice as a daughter, you are a shining example of strength and courage and that you to the Arantze family for allowing SGGS to be a part of your story,” the school wrote on Facebook.

“Welcome home!”