Throughout the day on March 7, thousands of students stood at Soonerthon for 12 hours straight in order to raise money for the Oklahoma Children's Hospital. In that one day, OU became the number one donor to the Oklahoma Children's Hospital.
While learning the morale dance, enjoying jazzercise, participating in the date auction and watching the miracle children talent show filled up the Soonerthon participants' evening, only one number rang out in the minds of each student — $561,268.15. That was the total money that the participants fundraised for Soonerthon, and it was over $200,000 more than the previous year's total. OU always had a high ranking within the dance marathons in the U.S., however, this year's Soonerthon launched OU into the top 10.
Numerous organizations have always participated in Soonerthon, and this year both Beta Theta Pi and Pi Beta Phi won the large group award for Soonerthon. The President's Community Scholars won the small group award.
Earlier in the week, the Soonerthon Benefit Night raised money for the cause as well. The top five Soonerthon Benefit Night attendees for the Women's Large Group category were Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Pi Beta Phi, Delta Gamma and Gamma Phi Beta. The top 4 for the Men's Large Group category were Beta Theta Pi, Kappa Sigma, Alpha Tau Omega and Sigma Nu.
Despite their exhaustion and achievements, Soonerthon advocates are already excited to see how much they can raise next year.
