Rutgers Dance Marathon: An Individual Experience
Paige Mallet is a sophomore graduating in Supply Chain Management at the Rutgers Business School. She is pledging Phi Sigma Sigma sorority, and this is her first year taking part in Dance Marathon. Dance Marathon is organized every year at Rutgers University by the Embrace Kids Foundation to benefit the families of children with cancer and blood disorders.
“I’m a new member so I’m excited to be able to bond with all the sisters and the rest of the organizations on campus,” she said.
I met with Paige the week before Dance Marathon, and asked her what her expectations were and how she went through the fundraising process. As a pledge, Paige helped her sorority fundraise for several months before Dance Marathon.
“We post things on Facebook, we reach out to family members, and businesses around campus,” said Mallet about advertising the fundraiser.
Paige participated in her sorority’s late night bake sale and the stRUt 4 Kids Fashion Show. For the fashion show, Phi Sigma Sigma rented dresses from the company Rent the Runway.
“A lot of the kids that are benefited by Embrace Kids Foundation are there too, so they get to walk on the runway in front of everyone,” said Paige.
She said she realized what she was fundraising for when she saw the children that would benefit from the money. She and her sorority sisters took turns to go visit the girls they were saving money for at the hospital.
Although fundraising was the goal of Dance Marathon, the marathon itself was a 32-hour event during which participants performed line dances, and changed outfits for the different theme hours.
“When you have a disorder and you’re a kid you miss out on a lot of things, so one theme hour is all toy related… another one is all sports, and so we dress up like athletes.”
Paige had an idea of what to expect for her first time at Dance Marathon, even when asked about handling schoolwork and having to stand for 32 hours straight.
“If you need to study, I’m pretty sure there’s tables where you can stand and do your homework,” she said.
She expected this to be a positive and rewarding experience overall.
“Everyone says at the end, when the kids come out and you see how much money you’ve raised, everyone cries and it gets really emotional, that’s when you realize, you know, what all your fundraising was actually for,” said Paige.
Smaranda Tolosano, Multimedia Associate
