Iowa State choir transforms story written by 11-year-old cancer survivor into song

By Nicole Tam

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    AMES, Iowa (KCCI) — Blake Bonta was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma, a rare type of brain cancer in January 2023. Treatment can be challenging but he continued on with life and smiled through it all. He also became an author of a short story, called Super Blake and His Super Pets.

In the story, Blake becomes Super B when the bad guys are around. His dogs are his sidekicks and they are on a mission to fight a villain named Vladimir.

A foundation called Sing Me a Story wanted to bring Blake’s story to life. Jarod Hart, a composition student at Iowa State University spent weeks turning Blake’s words into lyrics.

“I wanted it to be what Blake wrote and really embody that spirit,” Hart said.

Four drafts later, 25 pages of music and lyrics to a song called “The Adventures of Super B!”

“It has got that action and flair and a broad and diverse set of sounds and styles within it,” Hart said.

The voices performing Hart’s vision are Lyrica, the university’s treble-voice ensemble. It took the singers months to learn the score.

“Harmonically, Jarod has written something that is not in any one key, but it has a sound that holds together. But I worried about how quickly they would pick it up and they just did it,” Jennifer Rodgers, Iowa State University assistant director of choral activities, said.

When you listen closely, you can hear and feel Blake’s writing from the start and the action throughout Super B’s adventure.

The bad guy Vladimir eventually dances his way into a nice guy. At the end, Super B and his crew save the day.

Throughout the many rehearsals, the singers never met Blake.

“They’re now invested with Blake,” Rodgers said.

While they figure out that mystery, there was an important life lesson.

“I think they are feeling brave about having done it, and they should be feeling very accomplished. They are kind of feeling brave for Blake,” Rodgers said.

Brave like Blake’s journey to beat the supervillain of cancer. There was a special celebration Sunday as the Bontas experienced the song for the first time and Lyrica came face to face with their hero.

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