Hello from StevensTHON!
We did it. We broke the record. $46,300 raised. 2022-2023 is now the highest fundraising school year for StevensTHON!
Here are some highlights from this year’s 8th annual 12-Hour Dance Marathon:
Dance Marathon 2023 Highlights
On Friday, April 21st, we transformed the UCC Tech Flex room at Stevens into Candy Land. We had live music, dance performances, exclusive hour raffles, and special games and prizes, all to celebrate the fundraising that we accomplished during the entire school year.
One of our favorite memories was getting a visit from Colbie, one of our miracle kids who benefits from the amazing work at Children’s Specialized Hospital (CSH). She was born premature and spent 153 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus and Cerebral Palsy (CP). Now at 4 years old, she continues to overcome every obstacle in her way through physical therapy. After stopping by our Superhero Dance Marathon last year, she got to come back and experience everything that our Candy Land Dance Marathon had to offer. She got to eat candy, meet and take pictures with our school mascot, Attila the Duck, and her parents got to share her inspiring story.
Carly Decker, a recent graduate from Montclair State University and CSH patient, also shared her personal miracle story. During the summer after her freshmen year at college, an illness left her with a spinal cord injury. She received therapies at CSH to learn how to move and walk again. Hearing these stories made us remember our “why”: why we dedicated the past 9 months towards THON.
Other highlights include the Red Color Team, including members of the Stevens Women’s Lacrosse team, winning our annual Minute to Win It competition! Sigma Phi Epsilon won the competition for the highest fundraising Greek Life organization during our event’s Greek Life hours. We also had tables set up around the room with activities, such as glitter tattoos, a wheel of dance moves, a candy-themed photo booth, giant Jenga, candy toss, a paint-by-square mural, a candy guessing game, and a build-your-own candy bag station!
Whether it was a Fashion Show at 8pm, Karaoke at 1am, or Silent Disco at 4am, we had an awesome time and kept dancing for 12 hours straight. We’re so proud of what we achieved and the impact that we had on changing kids’ health.
Some statistics and accomplishments from this past year of Dance Marathon:
Over 320 attendees!
Over 465 registered participants at Stevens fundraising throughout the year!
32 teams across Greek Life, Athletics, RSOs, and more!
Awarded 2023 Program of the Year for Service by Stevens Student Affairs!
And after tallying post-total reveal donations, a grand total record-breaking $46,300 raised for the kids at Children’s Specialized Hospital!
We couldn’t have done it without the support of all of you: the Stevens Ducks community. Thank you for being there with us all night and supporting our mission. To all the Greek Organizations who showed up and showed out for Munchies hour and competing in our DM activities. To our performers and speakers from Stevens A Cappella, Stevens Office of Disability Services, FAME, Sigma Phi Epsilon’s CPK team, Sam Ferrara, and Dale! To our DJs and MCs for keeping us energized all night long.
Thank you to everyone at Stevens who helped us with running our events and fundraisers. To our hospital advisor from CSH, Sophia. To all our local Hoboken and corporate sponsors that have donated food and raffle prizes for our events, as well as collaborating with us on special fundraisers this year.
Every person that has bought Krispy Kreme donuts from us or purchased Milkshakes and Fried Oreos on Halloweekend or has donated to our Positive Tracks challenge fundraisers help contribute to THON and what we do.
Finally, to the incredible Executive Team and my fellow directors across Internal Team, External Team, and Finance Team for being the best student leaders on campus and for volunteering your time for this special cause. And to the amazing Morale Captains for creating the morale dance and performing it at the start of every hour and for helping us stay engaged and hyped all the way through to the end!
After the event, people ask us how they can best get involved:
Morale Captain leadership applications will open in the fall so keep an eye on @stevensthon on Instagram for the link to apply.
If you are in a Greek Organization, on an Athletics team, in an RSO / Club, or are even just a group of students that want to fundraise together, stay tuned in the fall at Flock Party for when participant registration opens for 2023-2024.
Tell your friends about THON! We hope that we see even more Stevens students, staff, faculty, and coaches involved with StevensTHON next school year. There’s something here for everyone!
Through Dance Marathon, you learn how to fundraise, gain service opportunities and a chance to give back to our local community and to kids in need, and develop communication, collaboration, and leadership skills along the way. You create the best friendships by working together to achieve something bigger than ourselves. And the best memories to look back on in college.
Being a part of Dance Marathon is something that I will forever cherish. Now, I get the chance to continue to support THON on the Stevens Alumni fundraising team!
The story of StevensTHON continues in the fall. We can’t wait to see you at our events and fundraisers as we set our goals even higher next year. And always remember: Kids Can’t Wait!
Sincerely,
Avery
Avery Murillo, Outgoing Internal Director
And the 2022-23 StevensTHON Executive Team