Soon-to-be Pella High freshman, Jonathan Burrows sat in the car on his way to Pella, his soon-to-be-home. A million questions were buzzing through his head, specifically about all the new opportunities to come. Burrows would soon learn that his grafting tree was about to add a new branch.  

“I think with every move, it’s like a grafting tree. You just graft on another branch,” stated Burrows. “You get something new, like before I ever moved much, I thought all I would ever be was an almond tree.  But, now I get lots of additions to each place that I move to.”

Burrows never really had a defining moment where he knew he wanted to pursue music. When he was younger, his older siblings and mother would play the piano, and occasionally he would “go bang on the piano here or there.” The love and passion for music had just always been there, a single moment didn’t define that for him. As more opportunities arose at school, he felt more intrigued by music, and he went after what he wanted.

Burrows has strong thoughts on Pella’s fine arts program as well. He thinks most of the funding goes to marching band and show choir, but he still believes that orchestra gets its fair share of money.  

“I think the best part is our staff they’re excellent and teach more than music. I just love the teachers here; I got to be honest. They teach good morals and discipline, and you can really see what a difference it makes in each of the classes.”

Burrows does admit, however, despite teachers’ efforts to make him a better person; he is not perfect. Just like every person, he has his flaws.

“I would say one of my weaknesses is being introverted. My natural habitat is in here, playing music. I would say I learned to overcome that a little bit, especially because the people here were surprisingly outgoing toward me and really welcomed me here.”

Burrows may not be the most outgoing, but he sees his gift as something he needs to share. His faith is important to him.

“I’m a religious person, and I believe that was why I was put here. God has some kind of plan for me here, and I believe sometimes in getting so busy, we can kind of lose that focus [while] adjusting and remember you have a goal too, to influence people,” said Burrows.

Credits to Zandra Spiker for this article.