TOWAMENCIN – From the Dab to the Whip to the Quan, North Penn students pulled out all of their best dance moves as they danced the night away for the kids at North Penn’s first ever mini-Thon.

Since October, the North Penn Student Government Association (SGA), headed by president Katie Solomon, has been working tirelessly in cooperation with the Four Diamonds association to properly plan and execute mini-Thon. The group split into event chairs and six different committees – entertainment, PR an social media, morale and spirit, finance, sponsors and hospitality, and special events – in order to spread out the duties and get everything accomplished as efficiently as possible.

The students were overseen by SGA advisers and North Penn teachers Kyle Berger and Amy Young, but ultimately the students organized everything on their own.

“This event from the beginning was completely student run. A lot of events at North Penn are run by the students, but the advisers have their hands in it from the beginning,” explained Berger “We let the leadership team just kind of run with it. They took care of every detail, and from October to now, they put in a lot of work.”

To kick off the evening, before officially standing up, the students heard from the associate director of the Four Diamonds association, Leigh Anna Hilbert. She explained the formation and mission of Four Diamonds, shared the stories of some families whom the organization has helped, and thanked North Penn for hosting such an impactful event.

North Penn alumni, currently Penn State University students, also spoke at the beginning, including Nicole Garritt (’14), Jenny Apple (’13), Derek Viscusi (’12), and Colleen Wood (’12). Each one explained their participation in Penn State’s Thon, talking about their respective committees and some of the sick children and their families whom they’ve had the privilege of helping.

“It was touching to hear stories of fighters,” remarked senior mini-Thon participant Jessica Phillips “It was heartwarming to know that our money raised will go to children and families who need it most.”

After the opening remarks, the event was carefully scheduled with mostly dancing, including an original line dance every hour on the hour. The night was broken up, though, with various games that pitted students of different grades against each other. Some of the activities included ‘Don’t forget the lyrics’ (similar to a riff-off), volleyball, dodgeball, and mat ball.

“For me personally, getting to run the line dance with my fellow captains and committee members was amazing, and we had so much fun creating the dance and showing everyone,” said Madi Peyton, one of three captains of the spirit and morale committee.

In between all of the dancing and games, seven junior and senior guys competed to be crowned Mr. Mini-Thon to take the place of the now extinct Mr. North Penn. After three question and answer sessions, a group line dance, and a modeling show, students took to the twitter polls, and ultimately voted senior Alex Van as Mr. Mini-Thon.

Throughout the night, many North Penn teachers and faculty volunteered their own time to chaperone the event. North Penn principal Todd Bauer and North Penn School District Superintendent Curt Dietrich paid a visit to the event in the wee hours of the morning. Dietrich, made sure to attend because this event is a “dream come true for [him]” after he attended Penn State University himself.

“This is absolutely awesome what we are doing here at North Penn. For years I attended Thon [at Penn State], and I thought ‘wouldn’t it be great if North Penn High School would do a mini-Thon?’ When I heard that we were going to do one this year, I was really ecstatic and thrilled, and that’s why I got up this morning to come here – to support everybody,” explained Dietrich.

At the end of the ten hour marathon, everyone was exhausted, so there was great excitement when the word was given to finally sit back down, but no one lost sight of the reason all of this happened.

“To all of the people at the mini-Thon, thank you so much for staying on your feet and having great spirits the whole night,” shared another captain of the spirit and morale committee senior Katie Swanson “It means so much to us from captains to have such great people dancing and fighting for childhood cancer.”

To close out the night, all of the chairs and committee members gathered on stage to announce the total amount of money raised for the kids. As a whole, North Penn raised a total of $35, 141.64 to donate to Four Diamonds to aid in their fight against pediatric cancer. This number is outstanding considering most first year mini-Thin schools typically raise anywhere between $5,000 – $10,000.

“It’s so impressive to me that kids care about other kids with cancer and raise money for kids and families going through this situation,” expressed Dietrich “It reinforces how awesome our students are and that there are so many good people in the world.”

Ultimately, North Penn’s first ever mini-Thon was a success not only because it aided in the fight against pediatric cancer, but because it also brought together the North Penn community – students, teachers, and faculty alike.

“Seeing North Penn come together is always a good feeling,” described Solomon “Without everyone’s help, the impact that we have made in the lives of those fighting pediatric cancer would not have been possible.”