Adios Seniors
The end of the semester with Victory is always a bittersweet experience. We get to perform our concert, record our newest CD, and have an end-of-the-semester party. The bad part? We have to say goodbye to our seniors. :(
This year’s concert was great! Since I was a freshman, we have always performed in Benton chapel but this year we were back in Sarratt Cinema. That was an entirely different experience since the acoustics and physical setting are so drastically different. It was often hard to ever hear the sopranos who were on the opposite side of the men because we were not used to the set-up. I was also apprehensive about our girl’s song. It’s a Victory tradition to always do an all-girls and all-guys song, as well as an all-seniors song. This time the girls’ song was One Voice by the Wailing Jennys. I had the second solo and could never get my B right off the bat, so I was terrified of messing up during the concert. It went really well, though. All of the songs were beautiful from our hymn It Is Well set to a song from Final Fantasy IX to our acapella version of Linkin Park’s What I’ve Done. I love the variety I get singing with this group! Without a doubt, my favorite part of the concert was our legacy song—Baba Yetu. My good friend Mel from last year came back up and sang with us. I hadn’t seen her since recording last year, so I was ecstatic! :)
Then on Tuesday we went to the recording studio to create the second half of our new album (we had recorded part of it in December). I had always wanted to sing in a recording studio when I was a kid, and Victory a cappella has made that possible :) All of Vanderbilt’s student organizations get great opportunities such as this, which I thoroughly enjoy.
The final thing I did with Victory was the senior send-off party. We ate Chick-Fil-A and red velvet rice krispie treats, played games like telephone pictionary, signed senior mementos, and closed off the night with a final song. It was a wonderful experience. Our group has never had a formal tradition for saying goodbye to seniors, so it was up to Jeremy and I what we wanted to do. Since next year he is going to be the general manager and I the business manager, it was good practice for us to work together on this endeavor :) We decided to make a poster photo of the choir for each departing senior and have everyone sign it. Then we ended the more formal part of the night by singing Baba Yetu one last time with them. I have a feeling that song is going to be eternally engrained in me as the Victory anthem.
The new board also met for the first time during the informal conversation part of the senior send-off. We discussed our plans for next year, as well as how we plan to recruit new members. For this reason, to conclude this blog post I wanted to encourage every incoming freshman reading this to join Victory a cappella! I honestly found my family here, and I believe you will, too. And if not in Victory, you will not be in short stock of possible families here at Vanderbilt.
…Until next time!