middle school/jr. high influences?

[mnfreelancer]

Hello all! I am new to this board but not to theater tech work and this is my "opening night" post. Much of my very early theatre experience is drawn from my middle school (6th grade - 8th grade) years and I feel like some of my best memories are from that time period. I am 21 now and a Junior in college and have been doing theatre tech work since the middle of 6th grade, when i was a mere 12 or 13 years old. I had keys to my theater by my 7th grade year and was kind of king of the castle by 8th grade. I had a WONDERFUL director through these years from whom I learned a great deal about theater as an art and discipline plus scene construction the way it is done in the real world. I cut my teeth in sound and lighting design on "Fiddler on the Roof", "Reluctant Dragon" and "Wizard of Oz", later to move onto major musical and independently written pieces in highschool. Has anyone else had major, very early influences that have affected them throughout their career? Thanks.