Josh Groban Reveals How the Kids in His Find Your Light Foundation Have Changed His Life: ‘the Greatest Gift’ (Exclusive)

It’s Josh Groban’s mission to keep arts education prevalent in schools — which is why he started the Find Your Light Foundation, originally called the Josh Groban Foundation, in 2005.

On Tuesday, Oct. 29, Groban is throwing his annual Find Your Light Benefit concert for arts education at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Ahead of the benefit, Groban spoke to PEOPLE and reflected on the growth of the foundation — and how it’s not only changing the lives of kids all over the country but also his own.

“The greatest gift of working with students or teaching is just how much it enriches you,” Groban, 43, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “You think you walk into an environment as somebody who’s got the experience and got the knowledge, and you’re here to impart that knowledge on other people. But the secret is that you actually wind up receiving just as much, if not more, from these kids.”

He continues, “As somebody who’s been in this business since I was 17 years old, they’re constantly reminding me to stay where the light is in my own life.”

Working with kids has also taught Groban to stay “where the right intentions are” when it’s easy to “be sidetracked by different pressures and different vulnerabilities.”

“When you see the pure inspiration and the light behind the eyes of these young kids and what they’re doing and the sheer joy of self-expression when they find that instrument or that stage or that paintbrush, it is a daily reminder for me to always go towards that same joy and that same place inside myself, not only in art, but in my life in general,” the “You’re Still You” singer says.

Reflecting on the program’s trajectory, which started with a jumbo check his fans gifted him at a concert in 2005, Groban is elated to see the difference the foundation has made thus far.

“When you first visit one of those programs… and then you see at that particular school [that] grades start going up and somebody with a learning disability all of a sudden starts getting better grades or somebody with a behavioral issue suddenly starts making tons of friends, it becomes the best kind of addiction,” Groban shares.

He continues, “So when you see that other people are starting to grasp your mission and then getting on board with it, whether it’s friends in the arts, whether it’s donors that want to put their money where their mouth is and say, ‘Hey, we see what’s happening’ — people are realizing that the stigma of like, ‘Oh, it’s just a drum circle or macaroni necklaces,’ or whatever it is, it’s actually scientifically saving kids lives, as it did for me.”

Growing up, Groban received that support from his seventh grade choir teacher who “pulled me out from the back” and “recognized that I was a shy kid.”

“I was having a hard time because junior high school sucks,” he recalls. “And so for the teacher to pull me out and say, ‘Hey, I’m going to give you a solo and it’s an assignment. This is for you to learn from’ — I would never have done it for myself. And he did it with kindness. He did it with love. And singing that song at that night, I think probably in many ways gave me the foundation of confidence to continue doing it for a very long time.”

Groban considers himself “one of the lucky ones” and is grateful for the access he had to arts programs in school. It wasn’t until later in life that he realized they’re typically the first to get cut due to budget issues — and he’s doing everything he can to prevent that.

Now, as he gears up for the largest benefit concert yet, he’s proud of the many years it took to “build this.”

Guests at this year’s concert, which is now sold out, include JoJo, Sara Bareilles, Misty Copeland, Lin-Manuel Miranda, India Carney, Everett Bradley, Tituss Burgess, Renée Fleming, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Angel Blue and Matthew Whitaker.

“This is our chance; this is our time. Every year we do an event and it’s our one moment to invite people into a live room where we can share our message, share our cause, raise valuable funds for these programs,” says Groban, who will appear in Little Big Town’s Christmas at the Opry special on NBC in December. “This is our night to celebrate that.”