When I was a sophomore in college I auditioned for an acapella group on campus. There were a couple of different groups that I could have auditioned for, but I only wanted to audition for this one. Amplified Acapella was everything that I wanted in a group and I was overwhelmingly happy when I got in. For the next three years a majority of my free time was dedicated to practicing both alone and in rehearsal. We didn’t necessarily all spend time together outside of rehearsal all that often but when we were all together we were a family.

When I joined, Amplified was still a very young group, only having competed in the national competition once before. For those of you who have never seen an acapella competition, if you’ve seen Pitch Perfect, that competition is real and collegiate teams from all over the United States gather to compete with their sets that they’ve worked all year perfecting. As to be expected, Amplified did not place the first year they competed however the second year, we created a bit of a name for ourselves, placing 4th in the Quarterfinal Competition.

The year after that we continued with that upward movement, placing 3rd in the Quarterfinals, receiving the award for best soloist for Emily Spindler’s performance of Chandelier, and moving on to Semifinals in California. Finally, my senior year we placed 3rd again and got the award for best choreography (Justine Saugen). Needless to say, I wasn’t in it for the competition primarily but it was rewarding to see all our hard work come to fruition.

Yesterday, after having taken a brief hiatus from watching the competition, I drove up to Phoenix to support the group as they participated in the 2020 ICCA Quarterfinals. I went in to the show not knowing anything about their set other than it had been making people cry. When their turn finally came around, I don’t think I could have been effectively prepared for what I experienced.

Amplified’s 2020 ICCA set is a masterpiece. To say that it rivals some of the best musical performances I’ve ever seen is an understatement. Being an alumni of the group, I’ve always been able to provide constructive criticism and feedback to help my Ampli-children improve, but I don’t have a single negative thing to say about it. The arrangement mixed with the choreography told a heartbreaking story about climate change and how we are destroying the planet, the soloists were on point both in their vocals and overall performances, and the set builds in such an emotional way that I was in tears by the end.

I think it takes a group of people very special to be able to elicit an emotional response that strong and Amplified is certainly full of those special people. The group not only won Quarterfinals by a landslide margin, but also received the awards, “Outstanding Arrangement” for the entire set arranged by Emily Drum and Jordan Murillo, and “Outstanding VP” for Jordan Murillo’s VP in “Bellyache”. I am so immensely proud of the group, how far they’ve come, and their performance last night. I firmly believe that they have the potential not only to win in Semifinals and advance to Finals in New York City, but also the ability to place and potentially even win at the National level.

I’ve always wanted those things for the group, but I firmly believe that this year’s set and this particular group of people have the talent and drive to do it. Watching the performance last night not only brought me to tears but it made me overflow with pride to be a part of this very special family. I feel so fortunate to have been a part of Amplified’s journey and to have been witness to the performance that, I believe, will make Amplified Acapella a national household name.