I can think back to as early as I can remember, being a young kid sitting in the Rose Bowl and watching UCLA defeat USC, thinking how amazing it would be to have the chance to compete for the school that I have grown up loving.

Having parents that both went to UCLA, an older sister who graduated from here and a younger sister who will be a Bruin next fall, I know that I will carry the love for this school throughout my entire lifetime. I am not sure that the feeling of meeting this accomplishment will ever fully sink in. Being a UCLA Bruin and wearing that blue and gold jersey has been the greatest honor of my lifetime.

There is seriously no feeling like hearing the roar of the crowd in Pauley Pavilion after a big point or a big win. I can get chills just thinking about it. I am so grateful for the pressure, the excitement and even the setbacks that I have had throughout my time at UCLA because they have shaped me into the person I am today.

You really don’t realize how much you have grown until you look back and reflect and see just how transformative collegiate athletics can be. I am forever in debt for the immense amount of support and encouragement I have received from everyone around me at UCLA.

I am grateful for the ways these past five years have shaped me as a volleyball player, but more importantly as a person, and it is because of the investment of the coaches, the athletic department, the support staff and many more.

One of the most memorable moments throughout my career at UCLA was the first championship in early May 2023. The feeling of driving in the team bus to the stadium to have a chance to win a championship and add to the elite history of UCLA athletics brought many nerves.

I remember being tense all throughout the warmup and into the coin toss. Right before the match, our team ran to the locker room, and we began to share stories from throughout the year and give ourselves perspective on how much we had gone through together. I was immediately filled with a relieving sense of calmness knowing that whatever happened in the next two to three hours, I had a group of people in my team that had my back no matter what.

These types of connections and the invisible trust between one another is what makes good teams great. I will always remember the feeling of our team being in our huddle, about to leave the locker room and go out on the court one last time, and having the utmost confidence in our ability to win because of the connection we had with one another and the power of Bruin magic.

I am leaving this university with back-to-back championships, two degrees, lifelong friends and a dream from a young age that is fulfilled. I can’t wait to now be a spectator at games and reconnect with that inner child in me that loved the blue and gold colors, but this time I will look at it from a different perspective.

Knowing what I do now and going through the experience of being a UCLA student-athlete has even heightened my love for this place. I have heard some people say that lifelong dreams are better in theory, but I can’t say the same for mine.

Knight played for UCLA men’s volleyball from 2020 to 2024.