THON Weekend

This weekend at Penn State was dubbed "THON" weekend. THON, which is short for The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, is a fundraiser that raises money for a charity that helps children with cancer and their families (paying for treatments, I think also some cancer research, etc). At the end of the fundraising "season" so to speak, everybody gathers together in the basketball gym and holds the THON part of the fundraiser.


700 students (referred to in the rest of this post as "dancers") are chosen by their miscellaneous clubs and organizations to stand on the dance floor for 46 hours STRAIGHT. No sitting allowed, no sleeping allowed, no caffeine allowed. I think it's supposed to signify the pain and struggles that a child with cancer goes through. The rest of the student body takes part in THON is various ways...too many for me to get into right now. Basically, the THON event ends up being like a gigantic dance party, where 700 people are not allowed to leave. The other 10,000+ students that filter in and out of the event can come and go as they please, staying in the stands for the most part (only certain people are allowed on the dance floor, and you need a floor pass, complicated stuff right there). From the stands, they make signs, cheer, and enjoy the activities that are happening on the floor.


I had never gone to THON before this weekend, but had always heard of it and intended to go. Not having a car most of my undergrad career, snowstorms (I mean, it is February), and a fear of carpooling with complete strangers kept me from THON in years past. Now that I lived a mere 3 miles away from the place it was being held, I had no choice. I decided that I would go to THON at some point in some way back when I decided I was going to Penn State for grad school.

This weekend, however, brought back a lot of those memories from the beginning of the school year where I felt overwhelmed and intimidated by the mere size and vastness of this school. You see, I have a friend who was a dancer in THON this year, and she chose me as one of the people to get a floor pass for certain hours of the weekend so I could go on the floor and keep her company, cheer her up, give her back massages, and bring her presents. I was honored that she chose me, and I was excited to help her out. I ended up getting three separate shifts for which I was to go see her: one was Friday night, one was Saturday morning, and the third in the middle of the night Saturday/Sunday. In order for me to make it on the floor, there needed to be one floor pass available for me from the organization she was with (out of two...basically they were handed off as people came on/off their shifts to go visit with her and the other dancer from that group), and I needed to wait in a line with a bunch of other people trying to do the exact same thing I was doing in order to get that pass.

On Friday night the floor was too crowded (opening night, go figure). More people were trying to use their passes than were allowed on the floor for fire safety reasons. They were also trying out a new electronic pass system, which failed miserably and created panic. I did not make it on the floor the first night to see Megan.

Saturday morning was glorious. I arrived an hour early for my shift (just in case the chaos of the previous night was still in full swing). Turns out, the line to get on the floor was a mere 5 minutes long. So I stood in the stands with complete strangers and enjoyed the entertainment on the stage. After an hour I got in line, waited for 5 minutes, and got on the floor. I spent an hour with Megan, she gave me a tour of the dance floor and little backstage area, and played catch with a new big plastic ball she had just gotten. It was fun :-)



My middle of the night shift was less than glorious. Something confusing had happened with the passes again, and the shifts our group was working with had gotten behind. I showed up at 1:40am for my 2:00am shift, and then promptly received a text message from the group leader saying the 1:00am people had just gotten on the floor, and would I mind terribly waiting until 3:00am so that they could spend a full hour on the floor? I found her, we chatted about it (the originally scheduled 3:00am people were still planning on coming, so they would need to be bumped back as well if I took it), and I resigned my shift. I gave Megan a wave from the stands, and drove home and went to bed.

In the midst of all of this hustle-and-bustle, I learned a little bit about the culture of THON. And I don't really get it. I ran into two girls I knew from ballet class in the midst of my 2:00am fiasco, and I asked them how long they had been there. Since 1:00am on Friday, they told me. ...Why in the world would you spend 24 hours there for no reason other than just to be there? They were just hanging out in the stands watching, eating concessions, and hanging out. For 24 hours. And they were planning on staying until it ended (they also looked exhausted and miserable...). I feel like they weren't alone. These people take this so seriously. Yes, it's a great cause. Yes, it's fun. But honestly, get some sleep (unless of course, you're a dancer)! It's only an event, you can come back after you've taken care of the other responsibilities in your life. The vibe I got the entire weekend was that it was a really big (VERY important) clique, and I was the outsider.

I am so proud of Megan for dancing the whole 46 hours. I am so excited that THON raised $9.5 million dollars to help kids with cancer. It is a really great thing that these students are doing! And now I know what to expect for next year. Maybe I can gather a few friends to watch one of the more exciting portions for about an hour or so and then go on our merry ways. And I'll donate to the cause along the way. Have fun with it :-)

Here's an inspirational THON video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np6elB0U3SU