Drew Johnston ‘19 started playing bass in sixth grade. Since then, he has transformed into a prominent performer, both writing and playing music. He is currently the first chair bass in the varsity orchestra, along with being a musical composer for the jazz combo, and the orchestra. His desire to explore creating music appeared during middle school. “I started in middle school, and at that point I was just trying to learn how to write songs, and I figured the orchestra was a good avenue to play those songs,” Johnston found his want to compose music from his time within the orchestra. “I wanted to be able to play music I liked, so I figured out how to, and did.” Although Johnston is heading to Northwestern next year, he plans to continue playing bass and composing music.

Chris Bruinsma ‘19 is a self inspired photographer. He started taking pictures somewhere in seventh grade, and hasn’t stopped since. “I liked taking pictures when I was really young, it was almost a problem because I took pictures of everything,” Brunisma said. He took digital photography his freshman year to supplement his knowledge, but a lot of his understanding of photography has come from experimenting with his camera. While he doesn’t have plans to become a professional photographer he enjoys it as a hobby. “A lot of my photography has come from being in the right place at the right time, and then just happening to take pictures that people want.” As Bruinsma looks into the future, he plans to keep photography in his life.

Brendan Fauble ‘19 is a self-taught guitarist, and he has formed his own band out of East Grand Rapids students. “I started playing bass and guitar around the same time. I formed the band starting this January,” Fauble said. He has spent countless hours in his basement composing music, specifically following the genre of punk. His inspirations from bands like Alkaline Trio and Blink-182 have led him to compose music that follows their music. “A lot of the instrumental guys were big in leading me to play this type of music. We don’t really put labels on our music, but yeah, it’s primarily based off of the punk genre,” he said. Fauble currently plays guitar, bass guitar, and leads the band. Fabule plans to continue to play his instruments well into college.