Music is in her blood. For 2014 Tech High School graduate, Jessica Backes, music is a way to connect with people. Backes just visited South Junior High School, her former middle school, to talk to students about music, but more importantly, to stop and say hello and thank you to her old band director, Anita Boster.
Backes’ musical performance journey started at South Junior High. She was a flutist in the band, but succumbing to peer pressure, dropped the class to be in other classes with friends.
It was Boster who stopped her in the hallway one day and asked, “Why aren’t you in band? You know you’re the best [flutist]. One of the best I’ve ever seen.”
“If Boster hadn’t stopped me that day, I don’t know what I’d be doing today;” remembers Backes. “She got me back in band.”
Through her remaining junior high and high school years, Boster and Tech band director, Gary Zwack, tutored her with her solo performances for school, church and even in college where she attended Gustavus Adolphus College.
At Gustavus, Backes considered teaching and studying abroad after graduation. She was getting close to completing college with a music performance degree as well as a Spanish degree.
[However] “Nothing was giving me that, ‘This is it.’ feeling,” says Backes.
It was at Gustavus, playing at a function, where she saw someone wearing a U.S. Marine Corps shirt. He was a clarinet player and band recruiter. He wasn’t attending the function to recruit, just there to enjoy the music. The two began talking.
As the pair’s conversation progressed, she experienced the “This is it” feeling.
“It was a big, glorious mistake to run into him!” exclaims Backes. “I had no idea it would change my life.”
Backes began the audition process to join the U.S. Marine Corps band. After completing the rigorous and extensive three-step audition and elimination process, she was admitted.
She spent the remainder of her senior year wrapping up to ship out for basic training.
Now she looks forward to being stationed in New Orleans with the Marine Corps Band. She’ll perform at sporting events, military ceremonies and tour. For her far-off future, she plans on earning her doctorate to teach music at a liberal arts college somewhere in the Midwest.
“More than anything, I want to be that mentor like my professor was for me,” states Backes.
Until then, she enjoys speaking to middle-level students like those at South Junior High. She gives the same speech to every student.
“Never let someone else tell you what you can and can’t do, with the exceptions of parents and teachers,” advises Backes. “As soon as you do, you’re not true to yourself. You need to be true to yourself. Have your wants and wishes fall in line with who you are because who you are and want to be are the same person. YOU get to decide who you want to be.”
Backes follows her own advice and instincts to ensure she is true to herself. She’ll continue to feed her passion for musical performance and to mentor students as her own teachers mentored and guided her along her path.
“They [Boster and Zwack] molded me into who I am today,” smiles Backes.
I AM a musician. I AM a performer. I AM a Marine. I AM 742.
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