When you are involved with music and/or theater growing up, your music teachers and show directors can be some of the most influential people in your life. Sure, your general subject teachers can be just as great (I know some of mine were), but I can think of four arts educators I've been lucky enough to have been taught by over the years. They taught me so much more than just how to sing and dance.

Mr. Thomas Austin was my music teacher from kindergarten to fifth grade and I always credit him as being the person who made me fall in love with music. He must have realized my love for it early, since he sort of took me under his wing for those five years, privately working with me and giving me any opportunity he could to get me out there singing. I might have been a "favorite" of his, but he tried to get every kid he taught to feel the same way about music. It was really impossible not to, considering how upbeat and passionate he was about it.

Mrs. Megan McGourty was my director for all three middle school shows, as well as my seventh-grade Spanish teacher. Even though we do not talk often, I still consider her one of the most influential people in my life. She was as tough as they come and never took nonsense from anyone. She was also impossibly funny, caring and, in the best way possible, brutally honest. Having had prominent roles in all three shows, I built such a strong relationship with her that continues to this day and I would not trade it for the world.

Brian Reich might have been my high school chorus teacher, but during that time, he became my best friend and greatest mentor as well. He is incredibly talented, caring, passionate and funny. Every kid in the school's music program, whether he taught them or not, gravitated towards him and had an immense amount of respect for him - respect that he not-so-outwardly demanded, but deserved.

Karen Braun was my director for "Rent" and "American Idiot" at her theater, Soluna Studio's, and is easily the most effective director I've ever worked with. I walked into Soluna with no expectations and came out with a ton of new friends, a reignited love for community theater and a confidence boost unlike any I've had before. She is incredibly artistic, kind, athletic and driven, but like McGourty, is as tough as they come. Even think about disrespecting her, her theater or anyone in it and you will be out the door so fast it will make your head spin. The respect she commands as well as her "this-is-OUR-show" style of directing produces results that no other director on Long Island can come close to.

It is an amazing thing when someone inspires you personally as much as they do artistically, and I am blessed to be able to say that all four of these people have done that for me. These four have of course helped mold me into the performer I am today, but they've taught me so much more than any of that. They taught me how to not only love and respect my art, but everyone you work with no matter what their role is and most importantly, yourself. They always encouraged me to be myself and to never let anyone try and change me or tell me I can't do something. I think I was always one of the mature ones, but when I needed to be taken down a peg, they'd have no problem humbling me. Those lessons and more that I might not have totally grasped at the time, but I came to appreciate as time went on.

Not only have they taught me all these valuable lessons, but they have been there for me through the good, the bad and everything in between. I can only hope that through all of it, they've watched me grow up into a young man they can be proud of. It's not a teacher or a director's job to listen to some kids problems or aspirations or anything like that, but these four have done that from day one and have always gone above and beyond to make sure I had what I needed. They are not just my teachers or mentors, they are some of the best people I have ever met and are the perfect examples of when the line is crossed and a teacher becomes a friend. So, thank you four for all that you've done for me, and many more of us out there. You make the world a better place.

Much love.