The class of 2024 will get a Kickoff at Kinnick experience, recreating a tradition that was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

The University of Iowa has announced that second-year students will be able to gather at Kinnick Stadium and take the traditional Block I photo on Oct. 1 at 5 p.m., according to an email sent out to the Class of 2024 on Friday. Gates open at 4:30. 

Second-year students that would like to attend need to RSVP, which can be done here. Masks are encouraged for those in attendance, the email said. 

There were no OnIowa! events or Kickoff at Kinnick in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While coronavirus cases subsided in 2021, the highly transmissible delta variant has contributed to a rise in cases, and the seven-day average for new cases in Iowa is now similar to what it was in late August of 2020, according to the New York Times’ COVID-19 tracker. 

The Class of 2025 resumed the tradition on Aug. 20 where first-year students got to take their Block I photo, learn the fight song, and other University of Iowa traditions.