THON Raises $13,026,653.23!

Ana Elmasllari, Lion’s Eye Staff Editor, ave5065@psu.edu

On the third weekend of February, over 700 Penn State students stood for 46 hours without sitting or sleeping at the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC) for the weekend of Thon. The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon’s mission, also known as Thon, is to conquer pediatric cancer by supporting their families and staff though the Four Diamonds Fund. This year, after long hours of canning in the cold and more, Penn State Students raised a total of $13,026,653.23 for the kids. Students, volunteers and Four Diamonds families joined together in Penn State’s BJC, and for 46 hours volunteers give the kids and their families a chance to forget about cancer. This year over 700 students, called dancers during Thon Weekend, were registered to participate in the 46-hour-long, no-sleeping, no-sitting dance marathon.

Greek life, sports clubs, special interests organizations and others participate in raising money and a lot of them are assigned a Four Diamonds family. The organizations have built special relationships with their Thon children and their families and during Thon Weekend they all get a chance to spend time with each other. Their support teams, the dancer’s orgs or teams, are standing on the stands cheering them on. During the weekend a number of different events happen like the kid’s fashion show or the pep-rally that most if not all of the Penn State sport teams take place in. This year the best performance during the pep-rally went to the men’s hockey team. There are many other performances by students, bands and the Four Diamond Kids as well.  It officially starts on Friday at 4 p.m. and it runs until Sunday 6 p.m. with the total raised announced at the last minute making every hour spent there worth it.

 

There is so much life and happiness during Thon Weekend. that every time someone yells out “We are,” you know the whole entire BJC will respond with “Penn State.”