An important lesson everyone should be taught is not to judge books by their covers. We will never know people's life stories based solely on their appearances.

Logan Wells is anything but a typical third-grader. His grandmother, Wanda, is his guardian and his brother, Alex, is on the autism spectrum and has attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD). While Logan goes to Mountville Elementary School, Alex stays home and attends cyber school. In spite of the obstacles that have come their way, both boys are straight-A students and have an interest in the arts. For Alex, he enjoys drawing, while Logan plays the piano.

However, it was Alex who had a piano on his Christmas list two years ago. Wanda bought him a toy piano with prerecorded music from Walmart, and after playing with it for a few months, Alex set it aside. One day, when Wanda was in the kitchen, she heard music coming from the piano, but it wasn't prerecorded. It was live. When she came into the living room, she discovered that Logan was playing a tune he had heard from memory. Wanda knew Logan had something special, so she searched for an organization that provided affordable piano lessons. Then she discovered Scaling Walls a Note at a Time (SWAN).

SWAN is an organization based in Lancaster that provides free music lessons, ensemble training, performance opportunities, and mentoring from local music teachers to children and youths ages 6 to 17 located in the Lancaster and Red Lion areas. Wanda contacted SWAN and asked for someone to evaluate Logan. "I explained that he had no formal training, and when they heard him play, their eyebrows went up," explained Wanda. Since April 2021, Logan has been taking piano lessons via Zoom, and Bryan, the boys' father, purchased Logan a new piano right before Christmas last year. According to Wanda, SWAN believes in Logan's abilities so much that the organization began sending an instructor to their house to provide a one-hour lesson each week in addition to Logan's online instruction.

The first time Logan performed for an audience was August 2021 outside of the Ware Center in Lancaster. The entire McCaskey football and cheerleading teams were walking by at the time, and the group stopped to listen when Logan started to perform. As soon as Logan played his last note, the teams cheered loudly. "I teared up," commented Wanda. "For us, that was a turning point. I think it was at that moment he realized he's doing something most people can't do and it's appreciated."

"I just like playing songs and making people happy ... and sometimes (making them) laugh," said Logan.

Wanda emphasized that when the boys grow up, they can be anything they want. "I don't care what they do in this life as long as it's honest money and it's enough to put a roof over their heads and food on the table," she said.

"In dealing with SWAN as an agency, I have found them going the extra mile," stated Wanda. "They really want the kids to succeed. They show the children that they're important and what they're doing is special."

To learn more about SWAN, visit http://www.swan4kids.org.