THON = Commonplace

Pennsylvania State University has over 1,000 active clubs going on throughout its main campus. In a majority of those clubs, a significant part of its activities is THON. THON is the world’s largest student run philanthropy that raise money for children and their families that are affected by pediatric cancer. Most of the individual clubs raises their own amount of money for one family. I recently joined the snowboarding club and last year they raised about $2,000+ for an individual family that was affected with cancer. It’s a cause that most Penn Staters really do care about.

My first time visiting Penn State, one of the first things mentioned to me was THON and its importance. Coming from a relatively small town in Northern Virginia. I was shocked by how big it was here in a school of 47,000+ students. It really showed how service and civic duty was a top priority among most of its students. Many of the activities that take place to raise money for the 48 hour dance marathon is collected and donated in the first few months of the fall semester. The actual dance marathon consists during one weekend sometime in February at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, PA.

It is one of the only weekend besides Football games, where a lot of the surrounding towns and branch campuses come and participate in a bunch of different activities to raise funds to support cancer victims. This event is something that I would consider a major commonplace. At times I can’t even use the bathroom without seeing a THON Organization poster on the stall. It represents the unity that the whole school has for such a dear issue for many of the students at Penn State. Service throughout the year is aimed mostly at THON and the children and families that are being sponsored by the clubs but also its about the civic responsibility that many Penn Staters have about such an important topic. That is why THON is an important commonplace for civic duty and service at Pennsylvania State University.