Warren student on stage at Ravinia

Jon Napiorkowski has gone from playing his guitar in Warren Township High School's hallways to Ravinia in Highland Park.

Napiorkowski, 18, who recently graduated from Warren's Almond Road upperclassmen campus, was one of 10 music composers selected to perform in the Fairchild Challenge Eco-Concert at Ravinia, which the Chicago Botanic Garden organized.

"It was awesome," the Gurnee resident said of his Ravinia performance in late April on acoustic guitar and harmonica. "I felt something standing somewhere where people like Sting played."

Napiorkowski's Ravinia gig was fueled by Warren science teacher Mike Mieszala. Noticing Napiorkowski playing his guitar one day in a school hallway, Mieszala suggested he submit an audition recording for the Fairchild Challenge Eco-Concert.

To be part of the Ravinia concert, applicants were required to consider their relationships with nature. They had to use poetry, music, comedy and photography to show how modern society relates to nature.

Napiorkowski played the song "Gone," which he cowrote with friend Dean Camposagrado. The lyrics were intended to personify the earth and what it thinks about the way people treat the environment.

Students and others in the Almond campus' hallways were often treated to Napiorkowski's music before classes began. He's also coproduced two albums that he originally sold for $5 apiece, but now gives away so his music receives greater exposure.

"I sit and play guitar," Napiorkowski said. "I play songs from my albums, songs I've written."

Along with the electric acoustic guitar and harmonica, Napiorkowski plays ukulele. He said he's been influenced musically by Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton.

Napiorkowski and his pals will be working on a third CD he intends to finish by summer's end. He'll then head to Illinois State University to major in education, with music as one of his minors.