Senior year at Braden River High School was filled with stress and anxiety for Gabriel McDerment in 2021.

He applied to 14 universities, mostly Ivy League schools, and would have applied for more if his parents, Brooke and Cliff McDerment, didn’t limit the number he could submit.

With graduation fast approaching in May 2021, and admissions being limited at several universities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McDerment felt more pressure than ever to be accepted. He also kept comparing himself to other students.

To process his feeling of the college admission process, McDerment went to the artistic medium he knows best: musicals.