Here are some moments before and during THON weekend that stood out to me and I wanted to share:

A few days leading up to THON weekend, I shaved my head with some of my closest friends. This was for “no hair don’t care”, an event giving students the opportunity to stand in solidarity with those going through cancer and the effects of chemotherapy. Last year, one of my closest family friends lost some of his hair to chemo, so this was something I wanted to do to support him specifically. I see it as a small but influential way to make an impact. Since a few of us decided to do it beforehand, we got a couple more of our friends on board just a few minutes before. 

During THON weekend, I had an opportunity to spend time with one of our THON families on the floor. One of our THON children has been cancer free for over a few years now, so getting to see him enjoy the weekend in a carefree manner was really special. Something I noticed as well was how stress free his parents started to be, especially compared to years past. It was fun jamming out to music and kicking around a soccer ball with him and his two sisters. 

After THON weekend and my 15-hour “nap”, I started to reflect on how special the Penn State community truly is. There is truly nothing else like a university standing together for an entire weekend to fight for those who can’t always fight for themselves. THON weekend always validates my choice to attend Penn State, and I can’t wait for my last THON and all the ones afterwards.