A recent invitation to play piano during Trenton Mayor Kyle Stack's State of the City Address has 16-year-old Katie Kurilko thinking about her future in music.

Katie, a junior at Trenton High School, began playing the piano at six years old and hopes to turn her passion into a career.

Daughter of Mike Kurilko, the high school band director, Katie said music is in her blood. Her two piano-playing brothers inspired her to learn to play.

"It, sort of, came naturally to everybody," Kurilko said.

After landing a job playing the organ for a church in Taylor, Katie has her sights set on her future. She plans to major in music at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor or Michigan State University--when she finishes high school.

"I know that I wanna go to college for music and I know that I want it to be something that I do as my job, but I don't want to be a teacher," Katie said. "Being a teacher is so much harder than a lot of people think."

Whether her passion for music and performing takes her to New York or anywhere else, Katie said she couldn't think of a better profession.

"I've always been performing with dance, the piano, singing and with plays and musicals, and that's what I see myself doing," Katie said. "Just performing for people."

Katie also plays alto saxophone in the high school marching band and plans to take up guitar in the spring.

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