As an actor, trumpet player, videographer, news anchor, and host of his own show, senior Frank Scott V already has a lot of titles to live up to. On November 20, this master of all fresh things added a new one. What was it like for Frank to perform on his home stage and be crowned the newest Mr. Pascack Hills?

For many of the performers at the 2018 production of Mr. Pascack Hills, tension was a major feeling going through their veins as they stepped out onto the Hills stage for what was most likely their first time performing in front of a large crowd. But that was not an issue for Scott. As he’s about to start his eighth and final production with the Pascack Hills Players, Scott’s theatre brain took over when he performed his rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

“As a theatre kid…going out on stage and performing is second nature to me,” said Scott. “There’s a part of my brain that only takes over when I’m in front of a crowd. I don’t know where it comes from, but it does all the work. I can’t remember half of what went down up there.”

Even though he claims not to remember his performance, Scott said that the most spectacular part was when “the entire audience took out their phone flashlights and started swaying them back and forth.” He commented, “from my point of view onstage, it was breathtaking. [It] was completely unplanned, but it was by far my favorite moment. I’ll never forget that view. You ever really seen the stars on a clear night? That’s what it looked like.”

That was only one of the many ways that performing with nine of the school’s freshest was different to Scott’s musical theatre endeavors with the Pascack Hills Players.

“For one,” Scott said, “there was no script that I had to follow. That means anything goes, which is not normally a liberty I can take on the Pascack Hills stage. The best change though, was the fact that I got to have my own moment. I’ve never had a lead in one of our shows before, so, for the first time in my life, I got to spend six minutes being one.”

After Scott first hit the stage for the “Who looks the freshest?” round, he was feeling pretty confident about the night to come. “I was really counting on my ‘security team’ to do their jobs (which they did splendidly),” Scott said. Later on, after Scott’s super fresh musical performance, he “felt like [he] had won over the audience.” But he also added, “Watching Couto’s dance around the stage with a donkey had me a little worried. Carnig’s dance moves

were spectacular as usual, so if we were going by pure talent, I thought he had a really good shot too. Everyone brought something different to the table, that’s for sure. What I can say for sure is this: I walked offstage feeling very good about my performance. I was on cloud nine.”

Overall, after being crowned Mr. Pascack Hills, Scott said that he is “really, really proud.”

“I put a ton of effort into my act,” he said, “and it feels amazing to know that it all paid off. Being Mr. Pascack Hills is an honor, and it’s an incredible way to top off my four years of education at PHHS.”