Brandon Parker is a junior majoring in Accounting and is the son of Phillip and Melanie Parker of Shreveport. Phillip is a former student of mine and a long-time friend. All of the family members are most loyal supporters of Louisiana Tech, and Phillip has often introduced me to prospective students. One day in 2011, Phillip introduced me to Brandon who was still in high school at the time. Brandon was not sure of his major but was considering accounting and music. I gave Brandon a campus tour and introduced him to a few people.  As we walked through the Biomedical Engineering building rotunda, he saw the baby grand piano and I could see his eyes get big. I encouraged him to sit down and play, but he wasn’t quite ready to do that.  After a short walk through that building and the Institute for Micromanufacturing, we returned back through the Biomed rotunda and the university choir had just arrived and had begun to sing. They were fantastic and the acoustics were great. Brandon was hooked. I think that he believed that I staged the choir for him that day, but I did not.  This is just the type of thing that frequently happens on the Tech campus because we have created the environment that encourages the mixing of the disciplines and passions across campus. Brandon came to Tech and enrolled in accounting, but has continued to follow his passion of music. He plays the piano and guitar and also sings. Brandon has also written and produced music. Most recently, he has been playing music on Wednesday evenings at Superior Steakhouse in Shreveport, and is thrilled to be playing in the same venue that gave Cole Vosbury (“The Voice”) his big start. Last night, Kathy and I hosted our first dinner in the President’s house after moving in this week, which was for my leadership team, the Administrative and Planning Council. I asked Brandon to come play some background music for us on the baby grand that is in the den. As a footnote, this is the same Steinway baby grand on which Tech’s Alma Mater was written. Brandon was thrilled to have the opportunity to play, and he did an outstanding job. We did a video of one of his songs, “Bitter Dreams”, that Brandon wrote as a freshman in high school.  I hope you enjoy.  We are so fortunate to have talented students like Brandon on campus!