The day comes every year when people gather in the quad hours in advance, shaded under tents or lounging on blankets across the lawn. Students, faculty and community members join together as music picks up from loudspeakers, and the crowd draws its attention to the steps of Lovett Auditorium. Costumed and ready to perform, student groups bring the quad to life through a traditional competition of choreographed musical numbers.
All Campus Sing is an annual philanthropy event organized by the Beta Iota chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, an international music fraternity. This year’s ACS is set for Saturday, April 18, and will mark the 68th year of this tradition. Kaitlyn Microsh, a junior music business major and chair of All Campus Sing, said the event is fueled by the community’s love and support.
“I believe ACS is such a huge tradition because of how many members of our community gather to laugh and smile and have such a fun day in the sun with people we care about,” Microsh said. “It’s always a day full of smiles and memories.”
While ACS is a major event for sororities and fraternities, any campus organization is welcome to take to the steps of Lovett in song and dance.
Jasmine Muench, a sophomore biology major, serves as the All Campus Sing chair for Honors Student Council, which competes in the independent category. She said she is glad everyone has the opportunity to be involved, no matter the group size or organizational attachment.
“You don’t even have to have an organization you’re linked to,” Muench said. “You can just start a group if you have enough people … and (SAI) offers a lot of support too, so they make it easy. They can even have someone to help you make your audio tracks and do your choreo for you and everything. It’s not bar for entry, like some things can be.”
Because of the campus-wide community involvement, All Campus Sing has grown into one of the most important and favorite traditions at Murray State. All proceeds from the event go to People to People, one of SAI’s national philanthropies, and to funding instruments for the local community.
Madisyn Farley, a junior exercise science/pre-athletic training major and All Campus Sing assistant chair, said ACS builds a strong sense of community regardless of affiliation.
“(It) allows not only for our philanthropy to be even more successful but also to build a more ‘Murray State’ community … not limited to building the ‘Greek Life’ community,” Farley said. “SAI’s thing is music and the more people we get to love and participate in singing and dancing, the better.”
As a first-year student, Layne Miller, a freshman nursing major, heard about ACS while touring campus. Miller is excited to watch it for the first time and to compete as part of the combined Franklin / Hart Residential College group. She said she’s glad to see so much of the community included because of the impact of the funds raised.
“It’s really important that the community’s involved because … the money they raise from registrations goes not only to SAI, but also to the groups they came from, like their high schools,” Miller said. “I think it’s important that it’s not just Greek life supporting it, but everyone being like, ‘Hey, music’s really cool,’ and it’s nice that everyone is giving back by participating in it.”
Whether participating through Greek life or an independent group, hard work and dedication goes into ACS each year, and the Murray State community, alongside the town of Murray, show up to give their support to every performance.
“Groups work for months to prepare their shows and a ton of work goes into it,” Farley said. “I think one of Murray’s biggest values is community and this event does an incredible job of building and growing community relationships.”
