With Newsies, I've gotten to meet a lot of young people across the country who are inspired by the show and who look up to the performers in the show. I think they put us in a different category than them, and I find that kind of odd. It's important for them to always know and remember that we were the same kid. I was the kid that waited at the stage door to get autographs from people and took every master class that came to my hometown. Nowadays we're so connected because of social media, and they think of us as some type of celebrity and something unattainable, but I was the same as them when I was their age. I want the younger generation to keep doing their thing and know that a career in performing arts is totally possible. You don't have to be born into it. You don't have to have a big break. We all grew up the same way. We all started at a dance studio or a theatre and worked our way up and learned a lot of lessons along the way. We all had the same humble beginning. It's important to know that sometimes it seems so far away, but it's really not that far. It's completely attainable.

I love proving all of those people wrong, especially people who told me that it was going to be too hard. What's funny is now the only contact I have with those people is them asking me for tickets to a show. I am so glad that I made that decision because I just wouldn't be happy otherwise. Being a performer has its trials and tribulations, and I've definitely had some tough times, but if you have to do it, you just have to do it.

It's been a long time waiting for it. I'm very excited. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to know if this is really happening. I saw the movie as a little boy. It was a newer thing to see boys dancing and that it was cool for boys to dance even though others told me the opposite. It provided that for me and my generation that it was cool and that I could be in a movie one day, a movie musical. I knew that I had to do this.