Every year, a dedicated group of students at NC State undergo the challenge of dancing for 12 consecutive hours without stopping. The purpose of this event is to raise money and awareness for the “Miracle Kids” at Duke Children’s Hospital. It is a part of the Miracle Network, a nationwide organization that has raised over 250 million since its founding in 1991. This year’s marathon is set for Feb. 29, but the team has been preparing by fundraising for the past several months.
“I started a Facebook page like, ‘Hey, this is my passion,’” said Rachel Hunt, a fourth-year studying biological sciences, who will be participating in the dance marathon for the first time this year. “I’m really excited to raise money toward Dance Marathon. It’s going to help the children at Duke Children’s Hospital, and people were just generous and saw it and wanted to donate. I was surprised at my community because I had a lot of anonymous people that wanted to donate, and I was surprised to see that people were willing to donate to such a great cause.”
Julia Clark, a second-year studying elementary education and the current team captain, spent a significant amount of time preparing for the event, including advertising through social media, encouraging her friends to join, and designing t-shirts for the team.
“It can be difficult to encourage people, but once you share your passion with them, it’s a lot easier,” Clark said. “Motivating everyone to get excited and sign up can take time, but once you get everyone involved, it’s so much fun. I think definitely talking to them about my personal experience has made a big difference. A lot of people didn’t know what to expect and ended up loving it.”
The last time Clark attended the dance marathon, it ended up being a true success. She was able to experience a fun night with her friends and even meet some of the Miracle Kids in person and hear their stories.
“It’s from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and you’re in Talley all day, and you’re just hanging out with some of your friends,” Clark said. “There are actually a lot of new people, and throughout the day they have all these fun activities. It’s a really long day. Luckily for me, with enough caffeine, I was able to get through it easily. But I think just staying excited and feeling ready to go for the day, it did take a lot, but it was so worth it.”
Although Hunt has not participated in the actual event yet, her experience with fundraising and raising awareness had an extra layer of impact, as she was able to gain further experience and insight that she plans to use in her career.
“I actually worked for a pediatric surgeon over Christmas break, and it was really interesting to see how different families had to handle medical expenses and things like that, and I’m actually really interested in medicine, specifically becoming a physician assistant,” Hunt said. “So I think it will be a really good way to see how we can help with financial burdens for families, and just opening my eyes to be more aware of those kinds of things. It’s something that I definitely want to carry on into my future.”
For any students who might be wary of the dancing or those who may not be physically able to dance for 12 hours, there are still ways to contribute to and participate in the event.
“You don’t have to dance,” Hunt said. “There’s a way that you can still raise money, and if you don’t feel physically able to, you don’t have to stay for the full 12 hours. You don’t even have to go that day. It’s just like a celebration, so I would definitely say still do that. Still, ask people in your community to help you out with that, because I think that it’s a great cause.”
To register for the dance marathon or learn more about how to donate, visit their website here.
