From a little town called Tomahawk – three and a half hours north of Whitewater – comes a student with intense musical powers and a newfound future ahead. Sean Powers, a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater junior guitar performance major, is set to graduate May 16. Powers’ plan postgraduate is to head off to boot camp and play for the United States Navy Band.
“I’m an individual who likes structure and a plan. Having stability just playing the guitar in the Navy is a cool gig,” Powers said. “I could play for the president of the United States or go to Italy and play for the pope.”
Powers began his musical journey around the age of 7 or 8 years old and started by playing guitar at church, which led to playing guitar in bars and restaurants. These gigs opened up new opportunities for Powers, such as the ability to tour. By age 15, he signed his first contract to go on tour with Kids From Wisconsin. He has continued to do tours with them from his freshman year of high school in 2019 through his freshman year of college in 2023.
“My tours got me through the door to play different genres and my time here playing different genres gave me a gauge that I wanted to do this for a career,” Powers said.
In high school, he strived to complete a bunch of Advanced Placement (AP) courses because he was born six days past the cutoff and was old for his grade. However, by the time he came to college, he had acquired 30 credits and was ahead.
Powers graduated from high school in 2022 and was inspired to attend UW-W by Jay Criags, a retired UW-W professor. Upon arrival at UW-W, there was no guitar degree available, but during his freshman spring semester of 2023, the major was created. He owns a virtual professional studio and, while at UW-W, has taught students both on and off campus, works with UW-W camps for 13 to 16-year-olds, and has previously worked with neighboring high schools to teach about what guitar in college is like.
Originally, Powers planned to major in guitar performance with a minor in marketing. However, a supposedly average day changed Powers’ life forever.
Associate professor Michael Hackett asked Powers to proctor one of the rooms where the Navy band was unknowingly gonna be. This led Powers to the Navy band and his postgraduate career took off from there.
“If you asked me this question a year ago, I would have never thought of joining the Navy or the armed forces,” Powers said.
His national audition was in October of 2024 in Memphis, Tennessee, and it resulted in a spot in the band. Powers has been given the task of graduating early to be able to join the Navy band. With this daunting task at hand, Powers decided to drop his marketing minor, stack up on his course requirements, and complete the two recitals this year he needed to meet the graduation requirement.
“The main struggle I’ve had is trying to fit in all the little things I needed to fit in. I didn’t know I was graduating early until I got the position, so cutting the loose ends was difficult for me,” Powers said.
Powers’ great aunt and uncle were both Air Force musicians and his grandfather was in the Air Force, so part of his decision had a legacy aspect. Even though his job is in public relations, not public defense, Powers will still have to attend and complete basic training. However, he will enter the Navy as a musician and there are only 600 musicians in the Navy and only 170 in the premier band that he’ll be in. There are naval bands all over the country in areas like Seattle, the Florida Keys and New York, even internationally in places such as Japan and Italy.
“I basically get to party every night, I get to play the guitar,” Powers said.
There are divisions in the Navy based on career, intelligence, where you’re going and rank. Powers will be an E-4 petty officer, a higher rank for someone just joining the Navy because he has a college degree and he’s a musician. He will primarily work on ceremonial things on shore bases, but will still do the physical training, and knowledge-based exams and wear the same uniform as other naval personnel. Where he will play is yet to be determined.
Two people who have been highly beneficial to Powers are Douglas Syme, a UW-W adjunct faculty/guitar instructor, and Powers’ academic advisor and professor of cello, Benjamin Whitcomb. Both professors had some final words to share with Powers before his departure from our campus.
“Find a balance between music business and musical artistry. Unlike many majors, music is both a vocation and an avocation. That can be a tricky balancing act,” Syme said. “In addition, always be nice. You will meet everyone in this business twice. Never burn bridges.”
“Sean is a very bright and hard-working student with a great attitude. He is very passionate about music. He always asks excellent questions and clearly wants to know as much as he can about music. Very proud of you, Sean,” Whitcomb said.
Powers is excited to continue his career playing his guitar and be able to serve his country at the same time with a strong goal in mind.
“Being able to perform and bring joy to people in times that are darker and uncertain politically and to give people some hope that we’ll come out better in the end,” Powers said.
