Meet the only cadets who play the Air Force Academy’s iconic pipe organ

With every touch of the keys and each push on the pedals, three cadets believe playing the pipe organ is an escape from the stresses of being Air Force cadets.

“You kind of get lost in the feeling when you’re playing,” said freshman Ben Kazules.

“It’s that other part of the soul you can’t get to with academics,” said senior John Walsworth.

“It’s just so different from everything we do here,” said Kazules.

“I see music as a way of expressing myself,” said senior Pankaja Dissanayake.

Only three out of nearly 4,400 cadets currently at the academy can play the pipe organ.

“Doing that here has been such an incredible experience and that’s something that not everybody, almost nobody, gets to do,” said Walsworth.

While connected by their love of music, they’ve all had the chance to perform at different celebrations at the iconic Cadet Chapel.

“This is some way I can give back to where they really invest on me,” said Dissanayake, who’s an international cadet from Sri Lanka.

John Walsworth spent the last four years playing the organ during morning services.

“I wanted to fill that role so we had someone playing the organ, so that we could speak to those cadets that really needed that,” said Walsworth.

With two of the musicians graduating and much-needed renovations due to water leaks closing the chapel for four years, Kazules will be the only remaining player. He plans to make the best out of his last semester.

“It’s definitely a bit pressures on me, to keep it up you know? But I will have next semester at least,” said Kazules.

Kazules will go back to playing piano, although never forgetting the one instrument he truly loved and enjoyed.

Cadets and tourists only have until early 2019 to enjoy the shrine.