Qthon is an even that Quinnipiac hosts to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. At other schools, it’s simply called “Thon”, but obviously, we made it unique for our school in respect to the name.
The objective of the fundraiser is a dance marathon where participants are not allowed to sit or stop moving for the duration of the event. At our school, it was from 5 p.m. to midnight.
The thought of dancing for that long was intimidating considering I usually can’t make it through Relay for Life because I’m basically a grandma who goes to bed at the latest 12:30 a.m. most nights. So dancing for seven hours until basically my bed time, seemed kind of unlikely.
I decided to join the team my sorority created and I’m so glad I decided to join. More importantly, I’m glad I stayed the entire duration of the marathon.
So it started with the opening ceremonies where they introduced the rules. You can't sit down, and when they tell you to “sit” it has to be on your knees, not your butt. If you are caught sitting or don’t seem enthusiastic, you get send to “jail” where one of your teammates must post your bail (a specific donation) for you to be “set free again.” As time went on, the bail got higher. We made it a general rule on my team do not go to jail so participate all times.
They then teach a giant 10-minute dance that it performed every hour on the hour that literally made participants, including me, break a sweat. Following the flash mob dance, we heard the story of a child with a life-threatening disease.
How people didn’t want to stay after hearing what these kids and families go through when this fundraiser is meant for research to end pediatric diseases is beyond me.
These stories gave me the chills and still does as I’m writing this. From the kid who had four surgeries before they turned four years old, to the kids who constantly has to go through speech and physical therapy as well as more surgeries for life or until a cure is found; these kids touched out hearts.
For some people, this hits closer to home than others, but regardless everyone who went and especially those who stayed wanted to help and make a difference.
When I tell you I had quite possibly the most fun I’ve had throughout my college experience thus far at the event, I’m not lying.
My sisters, friends and I killed it up on the dance floor. From dancing to salsa to jumping up on stage for Zumba to singing to dancing to Disney classics such as “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan, “Let It Go” from Frozen and “Breaking Free” from High School Musical. It was so much fun. I might’ve made a huge fool out of myself dancing, but if you’re not having fun, why do something?
My favorite part was the closing ceremonies, and that’s where it hit home. At the night when we signed in and each person got a hospital bracelet that said “Children’s Miracle Network” on it. Everyone who was still here got in a giant circle through the gym and held hands with each other as each child representative -- both those who were sick and their siblings -- went around the circle and cut off everyone’s bracelet.
This symbolizes the hope that one day, we will find a cure for pediatric diseases, and that no child will need to worry about excessive surgeries, and no parents will need to worry if their child is going to live to see another day.
I had the chills and most of us even let kids keep cutting our bracelets because they simply wanted to make a cut on every bracelet of the person there.
As a university community, we raised $115,683.13 which is more than double what was raised last year.
I am so proud of this community and the idea that we can accomplish anything if we work together.
And in case you were behind on the social media hashtags that night, FTK stood for "For The Kids."
