We celebrated the beginning of IC with the annual BBYO Unites Opening Ceremonies, and it was one to remember!

Walking in, you could feel the excitement as we all started to meet over 3,400 teens from BBYO all over the world. Just walking to Opening Ceremonies was so incredible with meeting people from all over the world and seeing everyone’s regional spirit, and everyone seeing ours (yes, you found Waldo).

Opening Ceremonies started with us getting to hear the amazing IC band with teens from all over the world and they were really, really incredible. Then the excitement grew more when the Hamilton cast came out for a performance. To someone like me, a long time Hamilton fan, this was so exciting to see and for me, it set the tone for what this weekend is going to look like.

We also heard music from Loud Luxury, the headliner for the night, and it was so much fun to get to listen with all of these teens from all around the world. Besides music, we heard from incredible speakers and the Grand and International boards.

Another incredible part was seeing every region’s presidents run across the IC stage and represent their regions!

Opening Ceremonies was truly such an incredible part of the weekend and was such an amazing experience, especially for a first time IC goer like me. It completely set the tone for the weekend and there is no experience like it.