Senior Rebecca Gallant is beaming with excitement about the upcoming drama presentation “Pirates of Penzance”. She is feeling bittersweet about the ending of this stressful week filled with final touches, senior responsibilities, and the ending of her career with HHS Drama musicals.

“It’s weird thinking that I’ve watched all the seniors before me now and it’s like, oh shoot, we’re the seniors now,” Gallant says upon reflecting on her three years in HHS Drama.

Gallant has enjoyed the responsibilities that have come with being a senior such as picking the charm to present to Valerie at the last show. While Gallant was in charge of picking the charm, she asked the advice of all the other seniors in the show. Collectively, they decided a pirate ship would best symbolize “Pirates of Penzance.”

Along with this tradition, Gallant also holds the tradition of the cast wide huddle, senior chant, and secret buddy close to her heart, and has the hardest time thinking that all of these traditions are nearly over. After the cast huddles together at the beginning of each show, the seniors break off and chant “seniors!” as a final hurrah to all of their hard work.

Gallant is also passionate about HHS Drama’s secret buddy tradition and is so excited to learn who hers is and present the final gift before the opening show. She also put plenty of work into her letter for her sophomore secret buddy.

“As a senior, I wrote about how much I’ve loved watching her grow throughout the show and the past couple of years working with her,” Gallant said.

Overall, Gallant is very excited about the show even though it is at the middle school to compensate for the large audience the musical attracts. The cast as a whole is excited to have a bigger audience, but they are also upset that the sentimentality of performing at the High School is gone. Gallant has a different approach and views performing at the Middle School her own form of nostalgia and reflection.

“Being able to go back shows how far I’ve come since 8th grade and finishing on the stage I started means a lot to me,” Gallant said.

Most of all, Gallant is very proud of both her castmates and herself for making it to this point. She felt the cast had become a very strong unit over the past month. She has high expectations for the show.

“I feel like the cast gets so much stronger as a unit during tech week, which helps us function under such high pressure,” Gallant reflected.