Standing for Those Who Can’t: Dance Marathons

Today, on National Dance Marathon Day, local high school and college students are gathering together to celebrate and honor their dedication to Children’s National Health System through Dance Marathon. At dance marathons, students commit to standing or dancing for 12 hours to honor patients at Children’s National. Throughout the year, they host fundraisers and recruitment events to raise critical funds to support pediatric care and research.

Kaiwei Hsu, family relations chair for the University of Maryland’s Terp Thon, said, “The dance marathon has become an incredible community of support. Knowing that there are thousands of students across the nation fighting for a cause moves me beyond words. I cherish every single moment.”

Through the Children’s Miracle Network Dance Marathon program, students across the country have raised more than $25 million for children’s hospitals in the last year. Locally, five universities and three high schools have hosted dance marathons and collectively raised more than $750,000: Terp Thon at the University of Maryland, GW Dance Marathon at George Washington University; maryTHON at Marymount University, Meccathon at Howard University, EagleTHON at American University, hawkTHON at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, McDance-a-thon at McLean High School, Dance for a Cause at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, and Walk Away Cancer at Walt Whitman High School

To learn how you can bring the dance marathon movement to your school or university, contact Tracy Flack at [email protected].