Dance Marathon raises 10K for children's center

Nearly 147 students tested their stamina by participating in the second annual eight-hour Dance Marathon for the Hopkins Children's Center. To fulfill the pledges and sponsorships that participants obtained, they began dancing at 11 p.m. on Saturday, Mar. 3 and remained on their feet until 7 a.m. on Sunday, Mar. 4.  Out of the 147 student dancers, approximately 60 lasted all eight hours. Participants raised $10,000 in total.

Dance Marathon has grown substantially from last year's fundraising total of $4,510.57. This year's dancers surpassed the monetary goal of $8,500 that Dance Marathon Co-Presidents, sophomore Alexandra Colt and junior Amanda Leininger, set for the event.

At 6:45 a.m. on March 4, the total amount raised had been $9,205.50, but President Ron Daniels pushed the total to $10,000 with a generous donation. However, the donation period does not elapse until April 7, at which point the true grand total will be ascertained.

Elizabeth Jedrlinic was the non-executive board participant who raised the most money, and the JHU chapter of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority was the non-executive board team.

"Kappa Kappa Gamma ended up getting almost half of our sorority involved. . .we're supposed to dance for those who can't dance," sophomore morale leader Christine Woodburn said.

Dance Marathon's financial success this year can be attributed to an enhanced advertising campaign and more effective publicizing of the event. However, there were fewer participants.

"The event ran much smoother thanks to the efforts of the executive board, and even though the total number of participants this year was slightly lower than last year, the dancers who attended seemed much more passionate about the cause, evidenced by the 60+ dancers who remained on their feet all 8 hours," Colt and Leininger wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

This passion motivated participants to stay on their feet.

"We're not getting tired," sophomore Morale Leader Tory Halterman said at 3 a.m. "We're getting coffee soon."

At the event, students were able to engage in many activities to keep them awake and energetic. Every hour, morale leaders led a 3-minute dance to invigorate participants and keep spirits high. At the end of the night, all the dancers performed for Daniels.

"I am a morale leader so it's my job to keep everyone really psyched throughout the night," said Woodburn, "It's another one of the ways we're trying to keep people excited because it is an eight hour event so it's gets long. We do the dance every hour and get everyone involved, so by the end of the night they know the dance and are really excited about it."

However, the event offered more than just dancing, such as student performances, raffles and food, as well as various contests including limbo, twister and hula hooping. The music selection was varied with different hours of themed music, including "Back in the Day", "80s" and "Diva" hours. Students decorated "Helping Hands" banners with traced and signed pictures of their hands and participated in a "Kards for Kids" activity through which students could create a card for a child at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, both of which are to be personally distributed. Dancers and executive board members told stories related to Children's Hospitals in "Miracle Minutes" segments in order to emphasize the cause. In addition to the students, President Ron Daniels and Carrie Bennet, commonly referred to as the "Shush Lady," made appearances at the event.

"Last year it was also really fun, but this year we have a lot more going on as far as keeping everyone entertained and keeping everyone excited. We've got a lot more stuff to give away and activities going on. It's a lot bigger this year," Woodburn said.

The Dance Marathon received funding for the event from the Student Activities Commission, the Alumni Association and the Student Life Programming Grant. In addition to grants, local venders, including Carma's Cafe, Suitcha, Papa John's, Subway and Krispy Kreme, donated items for the raffles.

The Dance Marathon movement currently includes more than 150 schools throughout the country and supports the Children's Miracle Network (DMN). Each event a school holds benefits their community's CMN hospital.

Neither Colt nor Leininger have personal connections to Johns Hopkins Children's Center, but each has her own motivations for involvement in the Dance Marathon.

"I spent a lot of time in the hospital the first three years of my life. It was a rough time for my parents and without the support, help, and love of the staff, it would have been even more difficult for them. Due to this, I have a special place in my heart for families and children who are struggling with illnesses and injuries that require them to spend large amounts of time in the hospital. Anything we can do to help lessen the pain, stress and hardship FOR THE KIDS and their families is something," Leininger wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

For many students at Hopkins studying to be doctors and specialize in pediatrics, the beneficiary of the event is particularly pertinent.

"I have wanted to be a pediatrician since I was a kid myself, and this career goal is why I am attending Hopkins as a pre-medical student. My life goal is to help improve children's well-being and, while one day I will accomplish this by being a doctor, I am now doing it by devoting my extra-curricular time to Dance Marathon," Colt wrote in an email to The News-Letter.