I’m only a freshman at Penn State, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t do my research before applying here. When I was looking at universities, I wanted a school that had great academics, an awesome atmosphere and enormous amounts of school spirit. Obviously, Penn State has all of that, and so much more. But I didn’t even know that until I found out about the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon – also known as THON.
I heard about Penn State in the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I had only been a freshman in high school when I first saw it, and the main character that Emma Watson played, Sam, wanted to go there so badly. At the end, she did.
I had no idea this school even existed until then, but it was the one thing that got me started on the college search super early. But even then, I put Penn State to the back of my mind until the end of my junior year of high school.
As my high school years passed by, my neighbor, who was a year younger than me, was battling cancer. As far as I know, she is in remission now, but I still remember the days where my dad would tell me how she was doing from talking to her parents. We hadn’t gotten along so well as kids, but I still felt bad for everything they were going through. And deep down, I really wanted to help, but I had no idea how. The fundraisers around me never went to childhood cancer, so I didn’t know what to do.
And that was when Penn State came back into view.
It was in July of 2015 that I first visited, and I fell in love with the campus. However, nothing attracted me more to Penn State than learning about THON – the annual 46 hour dance marathon that 15,000 students participate in and is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. I never realized how huge it was until I read more about it, and I knew instantly that I wanted to help somehow.
I am a helper, I feel other people’s pain. It’s something that I’ve come to think about pretty often. Even with some of the worst people, I can feel their sorrow and know that they are going through something. This is what attracted me the most to Penn State. My neighbor and I were never the best of friends, but I could feel the pain that her family was going through. I wanted to somehow be the change that could help people like them.
Learning about THON and what they did, did it for me. I knew, once and for all, that I wanted to come to Penn State. Not just for the academics, or the spirit, or the beauty. I wanted to come for the generosity of others. Hearing about what the students did and how hard they worked made my heart sore. This is why THON means so much to me.
For years, New Yorkers have gotten a bad rep. The truth is, there are some people in my state that really just don’t care about anyone. My town was full of them. Though I had the good fortune of having a very loving family, and a few amazing and cared-for friends over the years, I have also experienced selfishness and anger many times in my life. I wanted a change from that, and I wanted to see what real people could do.
That’s why THON and Penn State as a whole mean so much to me. What the students do, for kids that some don’t even know, is the most beautiful thing I could have ever imagined. I honestly thought that there wasn’t any real good left in this world, but when I look at THON – at the captains, at the committees, at the dancers, at the kids – I see good. I see greatness.
Though this year I am not going to be dancing in THON, the next three years of my life and more to come are going to be for this organization of amazing people. The true goodness and the honesty I see in it is amazing. THON is always going to mean something special to me, and I’m sure it will for plenty of others too.
Good luck to everyone dancing. I’ll be in the stands cheering you on.
Forever FTK!
Photo Credit: 1