Generation Three My life as a third generation Penn State student

So maybe you haven’t heard, but THON happened over the past weekend and it’s a pretty big deal. (If you really don’t know what THON is, it’s a student-run 46-hour dance marathon that raises money for pediatric cancer patients through the Four Diamonds Fund- check out thon.org for more information). I had the chance to show some friends around who had never been to THON before and really didn’t know much about what happens in the Bryce Jordan Center over those 46 hours. Here are some of the questions I got asked that might help explain THON weekend a little bit more!

1. Why are there so many colors?

THON is basically a giant dance party and no party would be fun without a variety of bright colors. The Bryce Jordan Center, the campus arena, turns into a rainbow of tee-shirts, tutus, fanny packs, and knee socks. The organizations in the stands usually arrange a color scheme with their members to it’s easy to figure out who belongs to what group. All THON committee members are assigned colors as well. For instance, Rules and Regulations wears red, OPP wears navy blue, and Hospitality wears pink. Since there are 15,000 student volunteers, this is the best way to distinguish who is who and what purpose they serve. Plus, college students love tee-shirts.

2. What is the line dance and why do they do it so much?

The line dance is a way to make sure the dancers keep moving and stretching as well as to keep everyone excited and upbeat. The Morale committee (the group that is in charge of keeping dancer spirits up) makes up an easy-to-follow dance with lyrics that highlight what has happened in the past year at Penn State, world news, and pop culture as well as why THON is so important. The famous words “Morale captains to the stage!” signal that the next line dance is about to occur and everyone in the stands and on the floor does the same dance together. A team of morale captains lead the dance on stage and everyone follows their movements and the lyrics up on the screens. You can read the lyrics from this year’s line dance here and watch it here:

The line dance always brings more energy to the BJC. It’s always fun to see everyone from little kids to students to parents and grandparents learning the dance all weekend! And don’t worry, no one judges you if you mess, up, we all do!

3. How do they find stuff to do for 46 hours?

Well, that’s no easy task. There are several events and performances that happen on the stage all weekend. One of the most popular is the Pep Rally/Athlete Hour which happens Saturday night. All the athletic teams who aren’t traveling for games make up their own dances and basically make fun of themselves to keep the BJC laughing. For the second year in a row, men’s swimming won with a hilarious and awesome dance:

THON also has various bands perform throughout the weekend and some of the most popular are Go Go Gadget and My Hero Zero which both completely raise the energy levels and everyone  acts like they’re at a concert!

Probably the best part of THON weekend is giving all of the kids fighting cancer and their families the chance to be center stage. They do this with kids fashion shows, talent shows, and a Kidz Bop performance where the kids sing pop songs for the entire audience. You can watch some of it here.

Off the stage, there are tons of activities for dancers to do such as Color Wars, which this year they called “The THONger Games.” Dancers are assigned to a color and participate in games like giant Jenga to keep them moving and interested.

Of course a lot of THON is just dancing to the music played by DJ Larry Moore who keeps a wide variety of songs playing from pop to classic rock and everything in between.

The last four hours of THON are the most emotional and impactful part of the entire weekend. Before they announce the total, THON families come up and share their stories of the children they lost to pediatric cancer and remind everyone why we THON. No one makes it through without crying as you can’t even begin to imagine what these families go through. They also share the positive stories of the kids who beat cancer thanks to the help of THON and the Four Diamonds Fund. These make you cry as well, only out of joy that the work pays off.

4. Why are people complaining about lines?

Well, when you have an event as popular as THON, everyone wants go get in on the fun. Unfortunately, the BJC can only hold so many people. However, the new system R&R put in place this year made getting in really smooth. With these wristbands, they could keep track of exactly how many people were inside instead of eyeballing it like previous years.

However, the PASS system line was still kind of a mess. A PASS is what gets you down on the floor to visit a dancer who put you on their list of 15 people who get to come visit them during the weekend. I had quite the experience with the PASS lines this year but luckily made it on the floor to visit my friend who was dancing for Best Buddies.

She did an amazing job all weekend and I swear I look more tired than she does in this pictures we took!

Then there were some questions I don’t have answers to:

5. How are the dancers doing it?

Can you even imagine standing up for 46 hours straight? No sitting, no sleeping, no showering! It’s a crazy thing they do but there’s a reason they are given capes to wear- it takes some superhuman strength.

6. How do they raise that much money in one year?

THON raised $13,343,517.33 this year alone. I don’t know how it gets done but every year grows and continues to raise more money through the tireless work of all the student volunteer work. There are canning trips (students travel across the east coast and stand in the cold with coffee cans for donations in front of grocery stores, intersections, etc.), THONvelopes (sending out donation envelopes to literally everyone you have an address for) as well as all the work the Overall committee does to top the total every year.

As you can imagine, the excitement that comes over the Penn State community when the total is revealed is indescribable. You can watch the total reveal from this year here. I dare you not to get the chills!

I had an amazing time at THON this year and am so proud of my school for doing amazing things. Thanks for reading along! Here are some more pictures and moments from my time at THON 2014:

 

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 26th, 2014 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.