“Finding Dory” made a splash at the Virgil Henson Activities Center on Thursday night with a dive-in movie.

“I am really glad WT offered us this experience,” said Alexis Deelsynder, freshman equine industry and business major. “It was really interesting to be able to watch a movie while at the pool. It is very rare in most occasions.”

Deelsynder wasn’t the only one who enjoyed watching the movie. Around 60 students from WT came to watch Finding Dory at the event. Other people and families from the community who were unaware of the events going on that night were pleasantly surprised once the movie began. Spectators either swam, floated on their tubes, or sat in pool chairs during the movie.

Dannae Madison has been lifeguarding at the VHAC pool for about a year and was on duty during the showing of Finding Dory. When asked if she would attend a dive-in movie event when she was not working, she said, “I would definitely come to an event like this. I think this event is one of the best events that WT has.”

The Office of Student Engagement and Leadership put together the Dive-In Movie this year. On the patio, the organization also provided buffalo cookies and other fun activities for those who came to watch the movie.

In the past, the event has featured movies like “Jaws,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” and “Divergent.” WT has been putting on the Dive-In movie event for over 10 years. The event is now considered a “tradition,” according to Chandler Huddleston, member of OSEL and a double major in economics and finance.

“I’m glad that we had a good turnout,” Huddleston said. “Hopefully, we can keep providing events that students at WT will want to come to and get people involved with.”

The movie kept playing after the VHAC pool’s typical hours. When the pool closed at 8 p.m., staff turned out the lights to give students a more cinematic feel. The event was free to all WT students. Freshman general business major Luke Haider only found out about the event that night “through one of the Universities’ Instagram accounts” but was happy he found out about the movie.

“It was nice that this was going on because going out to the movies can sometimes be expensive,” Haider said.  “I probably would not have gone out and paid to watch the movie.”

Dive-in movies seem to be growing in popularity. Other universities and cities have begun hosting events like these in their area.