Name: Sam Sprott
Age: 20
Year: Junior
Major: Biology
Hometown: Parkland, FL
Dance Marathon Position: Internal Fundraising Captain
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Name: Ali Klos
Age: 20
Year: Junior
Major: Exercise Science
Hometown: Coral Springs, FL
Dance Marathon Position: Morale Captain
Courtesy: Ali Klos
Her Campus (HC): Why did you want to become involved in Dance Marathon (DM)?
Ali Klos (AK): I became involved with Dance Marathon through my sorority. Everyone is supposed to be involved for at least one year and I decided to do it my freshman year. I didn’t really know what to expect when I signed up, I just knew I would be dancing for twenty hours, which is a really long time! But then I went to the event and danced and it was amazing! After that I decided that I wanted to be more involved with the project, so sophomore year I became an external events captain and now I am a morale captain!
Sam Sprott (SS): I joined DM because a lot of people I knew had participated during freshmen year and then ended up becoming captains during sophomore year. It made me realize that I wanted to be involved and that just because I am not involved in Greek Life doesn’t mean that I can’t be involved in Dance Marathon. I filled out an application and was placed as a captain for internal fundraising. It has honestly been the best two months of my life, so far. You make such a nice, close knit group of friends with your team and everyone is willing to help each other out to make DM such an amazing event. We are such a small intricate part but we all do so much, individually, to help make this event possible. It is an amazing experience to be a part of.
HC: Sam, what do you do as an internal fundraising captain?
SS: For internal fundraising we are in charge of all the online pushes and we plan all of DM’s main fundraising events (like the gong). We are also involved in Miracle Week and coming up this November, we are putting on an event called Thanks for Giving, which will be three days long. We also do an event called TriMiracle Week, which is based on the Triwizard Tournament from Harry Potter. Everyone at Dance Marathon is split into four teams (SlytherDM, MiraclePuffs, RavenKids, and GryffTKdor) and we compete in different games. We do this to make sure that people at DM are meeting each other and having fun while also raising money.
HC: Ali, what do you do as a morale captain?
AK: Morale captains are the face of Dance Marathon. We act as ambassadors for the community and student body so that they know what Dance Marathon is. We also teach the line dance at DM. The line dance is a ten minute routine and we teach it every hour at the event. Our main job, however, is to boost morale and keep everyone hyped up before and during the event!
Courtesy: Ali Klos
HC: Being that you’re best friends, roommates and you work at DM together, what is your dynamic like?
SS: Well we both have meetings for DM every other Tuesday, but they are at different times, so when we get home we both talk about certain things that went on during our meetings (some of it has to be kept secret!) and try to help each other out and give ideas. Our teams are definitely separate but because everyone participates in internal fundraising we do get to participate in events together.
HC: What other organizations are you involved in?
AK: I am involved in the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, I joined as a freshman and have been involved for three years now. I just recently joined the Pre-PT/Occupational Therapy Club because I am interested in becoming a physical therapist. I am also involved in the FSU Cross-Fit Club! We just established our new club at the beginning of 2015. We are a small group right now, but we are moving toward participating in competitions with other universities. This weekend we are participating in a competition in Atlanta. Hopefully we will become a sports club soon, but for now we are an activities club.
SS: I am involved in the Pre-Vet Club because I am pre-veterinary science. I love the club and have been involved for three years. They do wonderful things like bring in vets and wildlife experts to speak. They give us a perspective of the various fields we will be entering, as well as stats on different vet schools to apply to. The club is a really great place to meet people who I have a lot in common with. I am also involved in Camp Kesem, which is an organization which gives children, whose parents have been affected by cancer, a free week at camp. As a counselor you raise $500 or more because $500 is how much it costs to for one child to go to camp. It is a wonderful organization because you are helping kids do something they wouldn’t normally be able to do because of their parent’s illness.
HC: We know that you both are quite witty and hilarious; can you tell us who your favorite comedians are?
SS: Kristen Wigg and Maya Rudolph! We are both of them, interchangeably. Just imagine Bridesmaids because that is us when we are together.
AK: Yes! I completely agree! They are our #bestfriendgoals.
Courtesy: Ali Klos
HC: What do you do in the, obviously, little free time that you have?
SS: I like to run on campus. Netflix is definitely a thing! I am currently watching The Office and I also loved Mad Men. I also hang out with my friends when I have free time.
HC: Who is your favorite character on The Office?
SS: Low-key Creed, and I love Dwight, but Michael is obviously the best.
AK: The three things I do are: workout, bother Sam and eat food.
SS: We also go on Pho-dates together. It is a Vietnamese-style dish, and we go usually every Saturday or Sunday.
AK: It has become a tradition for us.
HC: That is awesome! Best friend traditions! Where would you travel if you could go anywhere?
SS: I think I would start through Europe and I would use my Dutch passport (I was born in St. Martin) to go around Europe and then end up in Israel. I would like to spend some time there before going to Asia. I would really love to go to places like Bali and Indonesia because they are so culturally different from us.
AK: If I had to pick one region of the world that I would like to explore it would be the Polynesian area. Being that I have a Hawaiian heritage I think it would be really interesting to explore other island cultures and to see how they take on the world. Also, going to Australia would be amazing, as well as China and Japan. I would really like to go everywhere, but I mainly want to explore Asian and Polynesian cultures.
Courtesy: Ali Klos
HC: Favorite food?
AK: I can’t even answer that. I love all food.
SS: At this time I can’t answer that question. Oh, wait! I love spicy tuna sushi.
AK: That is really specific, could you eat that for the rest of your life?
SS: Oh, no, I would eat a #3 spicy Chick-Fil-A sandwich with Polynesian sauce.
AK: For the rest of your life?!
SS: Hell yeah! Large lemonade on the side! You get the biscuit for breakfast and then eat the sandwich for lunch and dinner.
AK: I could probably eat Japanese food for the rest of my life. I just couldn’t do Chick-Fil-A every day.
SS: If I had the whole menu I could!
AK: Yeah, but if you could only pick one menu item?
SS: Market Salad. No. No, I stand by my original answer, a #3.
AK: I could probably do a #2, it is the regular sandwich, right?
SS: Yeah, the #3 is spicy – like me!
HC: You are both hilarious! Our last question for you, to bring it back around to DM, what is the most rewarding thing about working for Dance Marathon?
SS: The most rewarding thing, for me, is being able to have the opportunity to work with so many amazing people and being able to make such an amazing difference in the lives of so many people, while also bettering ourselves and having fun with new friends from all over campus!
AK: I think the most rewarding and humbling thing about being a part of Dance Marathon is knowing that, at the end of the day, every dollar that we work so hard to raise is going towards a child in need. It doesn’t matter how much or how little someone fund raises, every cent goes toward making a child’s life healthy once again and to giving them a chance to have a fantastic life.
Courtesy: Ali Klos