Redemption song: Guzzle reflects on transformation after showstopping fair performance

By: 
Robert Maharry

Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain. We all have sorrow. But, if we are wise, we know that there’s always tomorrow.
           
About three notes into Cayontae Guzzle’s a capella performance of the Bill Withers classic “Lean on Me” at Saturday’s Grundy County Fair Share the Fun show, everyone in the audience knew they were witnessing something special. The recent Grundy Center High School graduate dazzled the crowd and received a full standing ovation with his vocal stylings that at once recalled legends like Withers, Sam Cooke and The Temptations and modern R&B icons Usher and Ne-Yo, earning a chance to perform at the state fair next month in the process.
           
But for Guzzle, the opening line of that song and the message it conveys hold a special place in his heart: the long and winding road that led him back to Grundy Center for his senior year culminated with a 4-H citizenship award during the same show and acceptance into Hawkeye Community College’s Digital Mass Media and Social Work programs. Not long ago, the silky-voiced crooner was spending his days at the Clarinda Academy and wondering if he’d ever get to be a normal kid again.
           
“I think being there just made me realize (that) that stuff wasn’t for me,” he said.
           
According to his foster mother, Guzzle “raised himself” on the streets of Waterloo and wound up in the system, attending Johnston High School for a year before coming to Grundy Center with the Meesters and their seven other adopted children. The first time around, it wasn’t a smooth ride.
           
“I came here, and the foster home here wasn’t going so well. But I still kept in contact with them,” he said. “I actually left because of some behaviors that I had.”
           
That could’ve been the end of the story, but the Meesters fought tooth and nail with the help of a lawyer to bring Guzzle back to Grundy Center, where he attended prom, graduated from high school and now works the concession stand at the pool. 
 
Read the full story in this week's Grundy Register, or subscribe by calling (319) 824-6958 or clicking here. 

The Grundy Register

601 G. Avenue - P.O. Box 245
Grundy Center, IA 50638
Telephone: 1-319-824-6958
Fax: 1-800-340-0805

Mid-America Publishing

This newspaper is part of the Mid-America Publishing Family. Please visit www.midampublishing.com for more information.