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At 19, Tyler Butler-Figueroa can look back and understand something his younger self could not.
There were the doctor’s visits. The isolation. The days when playing sports or simply spending time with friends was not possible. There was leukemia, diagnosed when he was only 4 years old, and later the bullying that came because of it.
But as a child, Butler-Figueroa did not completely comprehend the seriousness of what he was facing.
“I feel like growing up, for half the time, I never really understood what I was going through,” Butler-Figueroa reflected Friday. “I never processed the severity of the cancer that I had.”
In some ways, he believes that helped him keep moving.
“As a kid, I was just kind of living life as I usually would, but it would just be the occasional doctor’s visits and stuff like that,” he recalled.
Eventually, a violin gave him somewhere else to go. Not physically, perhaps, but emotionally.
“I feel like the violin has definitely given me an outlet to kind of express what I was feeling at that time, because it was a lot of isolation, not being able to play with friends or play sports and stuff like that,” Butler-Figueroa shared. “So I feel like the violin definitely gave me an escape.”
Years after that escape carried him onto one of television’s biggest stages, Butler-Figueroa brought his violin — and his testimony — to students in the Union school district Friday as part of what organizer Andrea Rouse called Project Activate’s “farewell concert.”
The Raleigh native performed before students from Union High, Union Elementary and Union Intermediate before taking the stage for students at Union Middle School.
For many of the young people in the audience, Butler-Figueroa’s face and story may already have been familiar.
At age 11, he appeared on Season 14 of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” in 2019. Butler-Figueroa, who had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia as a young child, told the judges he had been bullied after losing his hair during chemotherapy. Some children, he recalled at the time, even believed his cancer was contagious.
He had found the violin through an after-school program, beginning lessons around age 7. By the time he walked onto the “America’s Got Talent” stage, the instrument that once offered an escape from difficult days had become the means through which millions would learn his name.
His performance of Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” prompted judge Simon Cowell to hit his Golden Buzzer, sending Butler-Figueroa directly to the live rounds. He eventually became one of the season’s Top 10 finalists. The following year, Butler-Figueroa returned for “America’s Got Talent: The Champions,” where he finished third. His journey also included an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
Friday, however, there was no television audience and no Golden Buzzer. There were students, but that didn’t make his story no less important.
Butler-Figueroa performed across musical genres, showing students that a violin does not have to be confined to the classical music with which it is traditionally associated. His own choice of instrument, he explained, was initially more circumstance than grand plan.
The after-school program he joined started students on violin for the first year, after which they could switch instruments, but he never did.
“I don’t know what it was about the violin that made me kind of stick with it,” he explained. “I feel like it was just me being familiar with it, and I also like being mobile. I found myself kind of walking around the room when I practice.”
He once considered switching to cello, he recounted with a smile, but decided against being tied to a chair and a much larger instrument.
Friday also happened to mark another milestone for Butler-Figueroa: his 19th birthday.
After his Sept. 25 performance, Union students turned the celebration back toward their guest, joining together to sing “Happy Birthday” to him. Their interest did not end when the music stopped.
A long line of students formed afterward for the opportunity to speak with Butler-Figueroa personally. Their questions ranged from his likes and personal life to his past experiences and musical abilities, giving students a chance to learn more about the young man behind the violin and the television appearances.
That connection offered another glimpse at how Butler-Figueroa has handled growing up with recognition.
“I like to stay very humble,” he offered. “Whenever someone recognizes me or kind of acknowledges my accomplishments, I always kind of — not brush it off — but in a way, I don’t let it get to me. I don’t let it blow up my head.”
Rouse saw firsthand Friday just how strongly Butler-Figueroa connected with the students.
The response, she recalled, was energetic at both stops.
“It was definitely a success,” Rouse remarked. “We started at Union High School with Union High School students, then the Union Elementary students and Union Intermediate students. And then we moved it on here (to the middle school), and the energy was crazy in both locations.”
Part of the appeal, she believes, was students seeing someone still young enough to relate to them, taking an instrument they might not normally encounter and making it his own.
“Oh, definitely,” Rouse emphasized when asked whether the performance could spark students’ interest in the arts. “Especially with him, with the ability to play different genres of music, it definitely sparked my interest. I wish I had picked up a violin,” she said with a chuckle.
But beyond the music, Rouse wanted students to hear the story behind it.
His battle with cancer, the bullying he experienced and the refuge he found in music demonstrated that difficult circumstances do not have to define the rest of a young person’s life, she noted.
“Being able to pick up that violin, to give him a safe space, a way not to think about all the things he’s going through, that was a great story for those kids to hear,” Rouse shared.
Union Middle Principal Dr. Robbin Cooper echoed that sentiment.
For Cooper, schools have a responsibility to expose children to experiences they might otherwise never have and to introduce them to people whose stories can expand their understanding of what is possible.
“It’s important for us as adults and educators to make sure that we bring all experiences to our kids if they can’t get to the experience elsewhere,” Cooper stressed.
Butler-Figueroa was especially fitting because students did not simply see an accomplished musician. They saw someone who had faced adversity at an age not far removed from their own.
“Having a role model like Tyler, who has gone through medical issues, bullying issues and has overcome them through his passion, is a testament to him,” Cooper explained. “And it’s also a good example for our students, so they know that whatever it is they’re going through, they can turn it into a positive.”
“That’s the climate and culture that I want to bring to our school,” she added.
Project Activate
Bringing those types of opportunities to students has been at the center of Project Activate, an initiative Rouse has used to seek grant funding and connect schools with resources and activities for students, teachers, staff and the community.
Friday’s concert carried a bittersweet element because Project Activate is scheduled to sunset today.
Rouse intentionally dubbed Butler-Figueroa’s appearance the “Project Activate Farewell Concert.”
“I decided to do something for the students, but give them some energy to provoke them to want to do better and know that there’s always something out there for them,” she explained. “So Tyler Butler-Figueroa was the answer.”
Rouse noted that she would have liked to take the concert to every school district, but funding allowed for one. The opportunity to bring Butler-Figueroa to Union came after Principal Tonya Colwell at Union Elementary mentioned the possibility, she shared.
Both Rouse and Cooper remain hopeful Friday’s concert will not represent the end of efforts like Project Activate.
“It’s been a huge help, for lack of a better word, in schools for our staff, our students and for our community, knowing that there is a program there that’s going to meet the needs of our kids, both academically, emotionally and socially,” Cooper remarked.
He credited Rouse’s work over the past three years with remaining centered on students and finding ways to meet them where they are.
“I’m praying that we can secure some type of funding to maybe continue something like Project Activate or get something even better and have Ms. Rouse lead that as well,” Cooper added.
Rouse explained that efforts to secure additional funding are already underway. She and one staff member received one-month contracts from the Sampson County Schools Board of Education for October while those efforts continue, she noted.
“I do really feel optimistic that we will have funding in October,” Rouse offered, adding that she hopes enough can be secured to continue the work for another two years.
Whatever comes next for Project Activate, its farewell concert left Union students with a message that extends beyond Friday’s music.
Before taking the stage, Butler-Figueroa was asked what he would tell a young person facing a battle of his or her own, whether involving health, family circumstances or another personal struggle.
His answer returned to the lesson he learned with a violin in his hands.
Find something that belongs to you.
“Definitely find something that you can kind of let yourself be,” Butler-Figueroa encouraged. “Find something that you feel comfortable with and safe.”
It does not have to be music. It might be athletics, art, another talent, or another passion.
What matters, he stressed, is finding it and committing to it.
“Just go with it 100 percent. Don’t stop,” Butler-Figueroa urged. “For me, it was the violin, so I just gave it my all. Some people, it may be sports … give it your all.” How befitting it was for Butler-Figueroa to perform “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey during the concert.
And for the students listening Friday, the 19-year-old standing before them offered living evidence of where such a decision can lead.
“If you find something where you can kind of release or kind of escape,” Butler-Figueroa concluded, “I say just go for it.”