When I became a student at Penn State, one of the things I was most excited for was THON. We had a Mini-THON at my high school, and I joined a committee every year. When I accepted my offer to Penn State, I couldn’t wait to continue my involvement with THON at a larger scale, so I made sure to join a committee when it opened up during my first semester.
I joined a Hospitality committee, so we are in charge of food-related aspects of THON. Throughout the past 6 months, we had weekly meetings on Zoom and organized various fundraisers to contribute to the overall total. On a normal THON weekend, we would be working shifts in the food stands throughout the Bryce Jordan Center; however, since THON was not in-person this year, our role was minimized. Regardless, I still spent a lot of THON weekend watching the livestream, hanging out with my committee on Zoom, and in general, supporting the cause as best as I could. My committee even pulled an all-nighter to watch the sunrise on Sunday morning, and after not seeing any of them in-person for the past 6 months, it was a really cool way to make the weekend special.
In addition, my cousin was dancing for THON this year, meaning he stayed up for all 46 hours of the event. Even though he wasn’t in the BJC like normal years, he danced in different houses around campus, so I was able to visit him one of the nights. This was another cool experience for me because for the first time, I got to witness first-hand the support that the dancers get during THON weekend. Each place he danced was filled friends, teammates, and members of THON helping to keep him energized. When I walked in the room, I felt such a contagious positive spirit coming from everybody, and it helped me even further realize how great of an organization THON is. Everybody’s passion for the cause shined through because despite the circumstances and smaller scale this year, they were still dedicating their weekend to supporting the dancers and making THON weekend the best it could be.
On Sunday afternoon, they raised the numbers to show the total amount of money raised as a culmination of every committee’s
efforts. This number was an astounding $10.6 million. To achieve this during a year of crazy circumstances and extensive fundraising restrictions simply shows how great of an organization THON is. Penn State students have so much passion for the cause, and that makes me want to continue volunteering for THON more than anything. It may not have been a normal THON this year, but overall, my first year experience was the best it could have been. Hopefully, next year will be in-person, but regardless, I will definitely continue to be involved with THON. If you aren’t, I would definitely recommend it!
Hi Beck! That is so cool that you did Mini-THON in high school. I loved reading this post and I loved watching THON with a few of my friends this year. I hope that next year I can get more involved in THON within my sorority! Awesome job with this post.