I still can remember my first Aquacades four years ago. As does every freshman class, the new Knights were going in blind, with only our sister class, the Titans, to guide us. Still, the school had high hopes for the class, and we showed up as expected. As freshmen, we placed third, with some of our routines getting first without ever having seen one in a prior Aquacades.

The Knights continued Aquacade’s success in their sophomore year, placing second overall and falling right behind their victorious sister class. We had some big shoes to fill our junior year. I can still remember when my deck routine placed first my sophomore year. We had worked so hard, put in so much time, and we finally got to watch it pay off. I could not wait to do it for two more years.

Junior year. Aquacades 2020. This year, there were bigger things going on in the world than the school tradition, and it soon fell off the radar for the year. My class was disappointed, as this was the year we were determined to go for gold. Plus, I was really sorry for the Gators, who got the tradition taken away their senior year. Also, our baby sister class, the Wildcats, got their very first Aquacades taken away, leaving them without fully understanding the experience and process going into their sophomore year. Our fingers were all crossed that life would return to “normal” for 2021 and that Aquacades would be possible.

This year is now my last Aquacades ever. Is it what I pictured my final Aquacades to be? No, not ever. But did I also think I would be experiencing my upperclassmen years through a pandemic? Also no. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to get together with my classmates and experience the tradition for the last time, even if it is not decked out in purple and red, jammed in the bleachers, and screaming out cheers as loud as I can. I am not participating in a deck routine as I did as an underclassman, but I know the group of seniors putting it together this year is going to absolutely kill it. Above all, and no matter how this year’s event turns out from a victorious standpoint, I am glad I have the chance to be a class for one of the last times ever, and to be able to see where everyone is going to college next year from their sweatshirts, which are replacing the purple jerseys we all would be wearing instead.

Good luck to everyone competing in Aquacades this year, and go Knights!