All Campus Sing endures, returns to Lovett steps

Raleigh Hightower
Lifestyle Editor

After two years, one pandemic and one inclement weather cancellation, All Campus Sing (ACS) returns to the stairs of Lovett Auditorium.

ACS is a long-standing Murray State tradition. The first ACS was hosted in 1958, and this year’s marks the 63rd iteration of the tradition.

The last ACS to be hosted in its traditional format was hosted in Spring 2019. Since then, ACS was canceled in Spring 2020, moved to a virtual format in Spring 2021 and postponed due to inclement weather on April 12.

ACS is an annual singing and dancing competition hosted by the Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity. The competition is between student organizations, such as clubs, residential colleges and Greek organizations.

Sisters from Sigma Alpha Iota have embraced the circumstances of the weather and have titled their performance “Whatever the Weather.”

Instrumental music education major Gracie Oakley said the Sigma Alpha Iota performance will include songs such as “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons, “It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars and“It’s Raining Men” by the Weather Girls.

“I never got the chance to take part in a normal All Campus Sing because of the COVID-19 shutdown,” Oakley said. “Being a part of a tradition that’s as amazing as ACS the first year it’s fully back is amazing.”

Student a cappella group, EQBlu, has also prepared a performance for ACS. EQBlu will be featured in the pre-show at ACS and will be performing several Lady Gaga songs, “Man in the Mirror” by Micheal Jackson and a song written specifically for the National A Cappella Convention (NACC) competition the group attended over Spring Break.

EQBlu member Luke Mandeville discussed the importance of ACS’s return to the music department as a whole.

“I am excited that ACS is back to normal and in person,” Mandeville said. “Here in the music department we have had to sing with our masks on and it changes the sound and the overall feel of the music.”

Sigma Alpha Iota uses the proceeds from ACS in their philanthropy project People to People, which donates instruments to schools that can not afford them.

People to People has helped supply instruments to music programs and musicians in over 60 countries. Sigma Alpha Iota will also be accepting donations of used instruments which will support local children who cannot afford musical instruments.

ACS will be hosted April 28 on the steps of Lovett Auditorium, its traditional location. The pre-show begins at 4:00 p.m. and the main event begins at 4:30 p.m.

Students, faculty and staff and the greater community can view ACS from the quad. Those who are not in town to attend ACS can find the event livestreamed at murraystate.edu/streaming.

[email protected]