2018-2019 Dance Marathon Year Kicks Off in the Northeast

The school year is in full swing and Dance Marathon students across the Northeast are already jumping into action. Over the last few weeks, over 400 student leaders from over 50 colleges and universities gathered in Boston, MA, Columbus, OH, and Baltimore, MD to start their Dance Marathon year. These Dance Marathon collaboration meetings provide an opportunity for students to network with each other, learn about industry best practices, and build strategies.

One of the primary focuses of this year’s meetings is recruiting and engaging team captains. We know that these captains are the best recruiters, advocates, and fundraisers that the program has. By developing meaningful education and engagement opportunities for these individuals, Dance Marathon programs are expanding their network of champions. Strategic team recruitment is also critical to success as programs evaluate their loyal, focus, and new teams.

In the spirit of continuing to offer impactful experiences to everyone involved in Dance Marathon, there was also a discussion on committee engagement as well as additional insight from campus and hospital advisors.

Many thanks to RALLYTHON (University of Vermont), Guinathon (Youngstown State University), and Terp Thon (University of Maryland) for sharing their best practices on educating participants to fundraise. Their presentations covered engagement techniques from segmented digital communication to on-campus events and campaigns.

These students are also leading the way in new conversations within Dance Marathon including Gen Z engagement and diversity and inclusion. We are so proud of how programs are leaning into these larger conversations, embracing change, and reaching out to new populations on campus.

Collectively, the Northeast Dance Marathons raised over $7.1 million in 2017 and is forecasted to raise $7.7 million in 2018 – a $600,000 increase! The student leaders are driving the Dance Marathon movement on campus, constantly always going above and beyond to achieve outstanding results. Their commitment to helping sick and injured kids at their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is phenomenal. Especially when you consider they do it all while being full-time students, working, and preparing for life after graduation!

Thank you to all our Northeast Dance Marathon students who attended, advisors who shared their expertise with the group, and our gracious hosts – Boston Children’s Hospital, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. We look forward to a great school year ahead!