I was one of those kids who originally joined theatre to be with my friends. There was a mix up with my freshman year schedule and I ended up in the beginner's theatre class rather than the production class that all of my friends were in, and I instantly went to the counselor to get it fixed.

Little did I know, my life was changed forever from that point on.

I acted in two shows that year, and I knew that this was something I wanted to do for the rest of high school. Sophomore year came around, and I didn't get the audition results I had hoped for. Not sure if I wanted to continue with theatre after not being cast, I reluctantly agreed to serve as the stage manager for one act instead.

Learning all of these new things was a rough process, especially when I, a sophomore, was chosen to be stage manager over the senior who had done it for years before me.

That's when you came in.

I was a junior with a goal to convince the new director that I belonged on stage instead of on the crew, and I knew this was my opportunity. You had plans to put on a musical, something we had never done before, something that was going to be a new beginning for all of us.

I somehow landed a decent role, one that I thought was the first stop in my journey to becoming the new star actress of the department, and I was ready for it. Auditions for One Act Play rolled around, but even through all of the individual rehearsing, I was once again disappointed in the decisions that were made.

I ended up on crew, once again selected to be the stage manager, as you were a new director and I was familiar with how our school's systems worked.

Musical auditions for the next year's production came around and this was my last chance to become a new person.

I'll cut the suspense and give you the short story - I was the stage manager for that production as well, but at this point, I finally felt like this is what I was meant to do. I wasn't sure why it took me so long to realize it, but I figured out that this made me happy.

The spring semester and One Act Play rolled around, and I didn't even want to audition for the cast. Instead, I knew that I was my best self on the crew, and that's what I wanted to do.

Thanks to you, my high school theatre director, I know what I love doing. I finally found what made me happy and I love it so much that I decided to make it my career. I was your right-hand man for two years, and I'll never forget the feeling of succeeding as a family. You truly made me a new person—one that I thought I'd never be, but I'm still so glad I was able to find my true passion.

Thank you for all that you did for me.

Thank you for allowing me to play a huge part in producing two brand new plays written by you, and for trusting me enough to carry out the responsibility of a leadership role. Most of all, thank you for making the best decisions, way before I even knew that these choices were the best options for me.

I'll never be able to express how thankful I am for you.