MiniTHON is one of the most popular clubs at Southern Lehigh, with 213 members. On March 23rd, the club held the annual MiniTHON – a “no-sitting” 10-hour event from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The event celebrated all the money raised for the Four Diamonds Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting childhood cancer and supporting impacted families.
Geared towards high school students, MiniTHON is a small but important part of THON and The Four Diamonds Foundation. Penn State University’s THON is a 46-hour, no-sleeping, no-sitting dance marathon held at Bryce Jordan Center in February. Penn State’s 2024 THON raised $16,955,683.63 for the fight against childhood cancer.
Both THON and MiniTHON fundraisers are for The Four Diamonds Foundation. Their mission is to conquer childhood cancer by assisting eligible children and their families by covering all medical expenses related to childhood cancer. Thanks to Penn State’s generous community, the Four Diamonds assisted every childhood cancer patient at the Penn State Health Children’s Hospital.
In past years, MiniTHON has raised vast amounts of money for The Four Diamonds Foundation. In 2019, they raised $21,311.56, which rose from the previous year. In 2022, they raised $37,071.38.
“This year, we raised $25,769.33, and it’s still rising because we still have a few more fundraisers until the end of the year,” said MiniTHON advisor Mrs. Courtney Bathgate.
This is Mrs. Bathgate’s first year as the MiniTHON adviser. She worked alongside juniors Alexis Hoyer and Marisa LaPadula, who serve as president and vice president, as well as the committee heads and the club members.
During the day, students enjoyed various games and activities, such as karaoke, crafts, glow hour, just dance, community hour, and several sports tournaments. They made their teams for the tournaments and played games such as volleyball, basketball, and dodgeball.
“I thought the event was pretty fun and [I] liked it a lot. All the students there were super friendly and nice,” sophomore Evie Kurlansik said. “I [also] liked all the activities, especially the games in the gym.”
Community hour is also a big part of the event. It is where kids and parents in our community can come together and participate in the MiniTHON event. It is a great way to see the community come together to help fight for a cause.
During community hour, the community can walk around and see all the event activities, like the Luminaria table, which was a focal point of the It was set up for students to come over and decorate a bag, which was later filled with sand and a tea light.
“Towards the end of our day, we did a silent walk around the gym where we viewed decorated bags,” junior community relations committee head Mason Voght said. “It was cool to watch our guests color these white MiniTHON bags because they were focal points of an event that [was] so beautiful, meaningful, and heart-wrenching.”
With all the activities coming to a close at the end of the night, there was one more event to happen: Glow Hour, which is one of the most highly anticipated events of the night. Glow Hour begins at the last hour of the night. During this hour, participants dance in the dark with bright objects like glow sticks.
Even though MiniTHON seems strenuous, it’s ultimately a good cause “For The Kids.”
“The activities all went great. Everyone gets really into the sports tournaments, so it’s a lot of fun. The outcome was better than we expected and we exceeded our goal for the amount of money we wanted to raise,” junior and vice president Marisa LaPadula said. “Thank you to Mrs. Bathgate and our committee heads. It was a very successful and memorable event that raised a lot of money for an amazing cause.”
