Updated 2:45 p.m. CST, 2/22/2014
After taking a 14-year break from Spring Sing, Knights social club swept first place on Saturday night, finishing with the John H. Ryan Sweepstakes Award and also winning the spirit award.
When the winners were announced, the members of the American Revolution-themed show stormed the stage and broke out into the national anthem. The entire Benson auditorium joined Knights in song as well as giving a standing ovation for “The Show Heard ‘Round the World.”
“We had talked about it beforehand that, if we won and got up on stage, that we would lead the national anthem, and we decided that I would be the one to do it,” junior Stephen Beck said.
The winners were announced for each category and Knights won over and over. Junior Connor Merry said the experience was surreal.
“At first it still didn’t seem real or hit me,” Merry said. “We were just turning around looking at each other to make sure it was actually happening.”
Knights queen sophomore Lauren Meyer had similar feelings.
“I was thinking ‘am I really a part of this?’ A month ago, I wasn’t even a part of this club,” Meyer said. “It was an overwhelming feeling of being humbled and honored that I had the opportunity to participate. I was so excited I thought I was going to pass out when we were linking arms and rushing the stage.”
Beck said that although the club was confident they had performed a good show, they were still anxious for the awards to be announced.
“Going into it, I was prepared either way,” Beck said. “I was confident (that) our show was pretty good; I knew we’d win at least a couple categories because I thought our music and entertainment were good, but the other categories, I wasn’t so sure on. I’ve done Spring Sing in the past and not won, so this was a new feeling; It was just a very apprehensive nervousness feeling but slowly climbing to ecstatic excitement.”
Knights queen junior Hayley Smith worked closely alongside the show’s director and her fiance junior Harrison Waldron. She had participated in Spring Sing once before as a large part in the Ju Go Ju and Ko Jo Kai show her freshman year, but said this was a completely new experience.
“I went from glitter on my eyelashes to dirt on my face,” Smith said. “It was really interesting; the dynamics were completely different.”
Merry said that Knights is known for being fun and spur-of-the-moment, so along with the Spring Sing shows came other American Revolution-inspired events. The Friday of Spring Sing weekend happened to fall on the 239th anniversary of Paul Revere’s famous midnight ride, so the club took advantage of that. Beginning at Allen dorm, Knights and anyone else who wanted to join them paraded around campus yelling “the British are coming.” At each dorm they passed, more students joined the group.
“I guess one of the things I love about Knights is that we have these spontaneous, weird, crazy ideas,” Merry said. “Harrison (Waldron) said ‘let’s go out and have fun for 30 minutes and get people excited.’ “
The parade ended on the front lawn with a speech from Waldron, the national anthem and various club cheers.
Knights also performed their winning show in both 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. chapel on Monday. Knights unanimously voted Monday night during their club meeting to not do spring sing again, indefinitely.
“It went so well and was so good that, without giving it a little time, I don’t think we could do that show any justice,” Beck said.
The Spring Sing theme for 2015 will be “Famous for 15.”
