VIDEO: Robin Thicke & More Surprise College Students with 'Boston Strong' PSA

MTV and mtvU today announced that the networks are teaming up with Robin Thicke, Ed Sheeran, 2 Chainz, Fall Out Boy, Jason Derulo, Tegan & Sara, Timeflies, the cast of "Pretty Little Liars" and official sponsors Best Buy, Pepsi and Windows Phones, to surprise several worthy college students in its "Random Acts of mtvU: VMA Edition." The program is part of mtvU's ongoing "Random Acts of mtvU" series, which celebrates extraordinary college students across the country.

Starting Sunday, August 18 and premiering throughout the week leading up to the "2013 MTV Video Music Awards," MTV and mtvU will air segments in which hardworking, civic-minded and talented students are surprised with messages from celebrities to support the "Boston Strong" initiative; a once in a lifetime iconic VMA experience with performer Katy Perry, courtesy of Pepsi and mtvU; a Best Buy shopping spree; and Windows Phones to create visual interpretations of VMA-nominated songs. Each segment will premiere on MTV and subsequently run on mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network that reaches nearly 9 million students on more than 750 college campuses. The "2013 MTV Video Music Awards" air on Sunday, August 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

• Sunday, August 18: "Boston Strong." "Random Acts of mtvU: VMA Edition" begins in Boston, where three Emerson College students - Nick Reynolds, Chris Dobens and Lane Brenner - took immediate action in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings and began the "Boston Strong" t-shirt campaign. They printed this motto on thousands of t-shirts and hoped to sell about 100, but instead sold 57,000 shirts, raising nearly $1 million for The One Fund, which was set up to assist survivors of the attack. mtvU star and Emerson alum Quinn Marcus surprised these three students with an mtvU camera crew to let them know that Robin Thicke, Ed Sheeran, 2 Chainz, Fall Out Boy, Jason Derulo, Tegan & Sara, the cast of "Pretty Little Liars" and MTV's Sway Calloway united to thank the students by creating a special video they can use as a Public Service Announcement to continue support for the "Boston Strong" message. The students were also rewarded with tickets to the "2013 MTV Video Music Awards." Click here to watch the video.

• Monday, August 19: "Best Buy's Aspiring Hip Hop Artist." MTV "Girl Code" star and popular radio personality Nessa stunned Montclair State University graphic design major Samy Saez, an aspiring hip hop artist and songwriter. Inspired by a deceased friend to keep chasing his dreams as a musician, Samy has been diligently working toward a career in the music business. As a reward for his hard work, mtvU and Best Buy gifted Samy with tickets to the "2013 MTV Video Music Awards," as well as a Best Buy back-to-school shopping spree, tech-fitting him with all the tools and equipment he will need to succeed in the design and music industries.

• Tuesday, August 20: "Iconic VMA Performance Presented by Pepsi." MTV's Sway Calloway dropped into a summer session class at CUNY Queens College to surprise a group of students with an iconic summer experience. To reward these students for their hard work in the classroom this summer, mtvU and Pepsi invited them to attend an exclusive VMA experience with performance by Katy Perry, where these lucky students will rock out as she hits the stage with her new single, "Roar," live for the very first time.

• Wednesday, August 21: "Windows Phone's Song of Summer Reinvented." mtvU partnered with Microsoft's Windows Phone to find six rising college stars who excel in artistic disciplines ranging from photography to filmmaking. Pop duo Timeflies surprised the students by letting them know that their artistic visualization of the "Best Song of the Summer" award category will be featured at Microsoft's pre-VMA event in the week leading up to the "2013 MTV Video Music Awards." To do this, each student was given a brand new Nokia Lumia 1020 Windows phone with a 41 megapixel camera, and tasked with creating a visual interpretation for each nominee in the new category. They will also use the phone to capture content with an all-access pass during the Microsoft event. The selected students are Zach Morrison of Rutgers University; Abdool Laltrapasad of the School of Visual Arts; Rachel and Nicole Effendy of New York University; Olivia Dufour of Connecticut College; and Kahri Jones of Penn State University.