Trinity University’s First Dance Marathon Raised Thousands

SGA President Amulya Deva (holding the microphone)
and the rest of the Executive Board revealing the amount raised
up until the end of the event (photo courtesy of Allison Wolff).

By Victoria Abad

Webster Gym became a rave floor as Trinity students danced to celebrate about $7,300 raised for the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio on Saturday. About 100 Trinity students and families of children patients danced in TigerThon, Trinity University’s first Dance Marathon.

From 5 p.m. through 9 p.m., students kept busy with dance, competitions, games, and more dancing. Loon-E Crew and Momentum choreographers were among the dancers. As was 7-year-old Jagger, who has been cancer free for 13 months. He taught the crowd his dance moves.

Throughout the night, donations came through the Children's Miracle Network website and donation websites set up for each participating team. Various Trinity student organizations, such as the Student Government Association, registered to become fund raising teams.
Dance Marathons are yearlong fundraisers held in colleges and high schools across North America to donate money for the Children’s Miracle Network. The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio is part of this network and applies a no-turn-away policy to treat any patient regardless of their financial situation, condition or socio-economic status.

Last summer, junior neuroscience major Sarosha Hemani, now the executive director of TigerThon, found out about Texas State’s Dance Marathon and decided to bring it to Trinity. “This is one thing that would bring together the Trinity community and it would also benefit the San Antonio community directly,” she said.

After getting support from Student Involvement, other interested students joined the cause. About 15 students formed the Executive Board. They worked to recruit fund raising teams, spread the word on and off-campus, plan the event, and manage finances.

“The biggest challenges come from the fact that this is the first year Trinity is doing a Dance Marathon. So we’re getting acquainted with the process as we go. We don’t have any prior knowledge to draw on or anticipate problems,” said Kelsey Kohler, junior biology major and the event coordinator.

Joshua Lee, sophomore majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology, went to the event in representation of Trinity University Volunteer Action Community (TUVAC) and Phi Sigma Chi. He enjoyed his first TigerThon. “This went really well,” he said. “We got to hang out with some of the families, do some dances with the kids. I thought it was very fun.”

“It’s for a really good cause,” said Zoheb Hirani, junior chemistry major. “We would definitely participate in future [TigerThons].”

Some of the families that have benefited from other Dance Marathons in the San Antonio area came to celebrate with the students. Reynaldo Villanueva, Jr. talked about the impact each of these fundraisers has had on his family, especially in the case of his youngest daughter Mackenzie. “It’s been about four years since we’ve been part of the Dance Marathons, and it’s definitely something that’s very special to our hearts,” said Villanueva. “Without guys like you, a lot of the help wouldn’t be possible.”

He also gave a nod to Trinity’s first try at this event. “I was pretty amazed. This being yall’s first event, you knocked it out of the field.”

About four hours into the dance, the Executive Board announced the total amount of money raised. The fundraiser ended with a long celebration of dancing “for the kids,” with glow-in-the-dark painted faces, music and a lot of energy.

“My vision is for this to get bigger every year,” said Hemani. “We could be as big as some of the other institutions that do raise over $25,000 and have Dance Marathons that are from six to eight hours long.”