ISU students organize dance marathon

When junior communication major Annie Smith was a seventh grader at Northside Middle School and went to her very first Riley Hospital for Children Dance Marathon she didn’t know the impact she was going to have with the program. 

“I went to my first Riley Dance Marathon when I was in seventh grade with one of my friends who was a Riley patient,” Smith said. “It wasn’t a college one, but it was a great experience and was when I first became involved with it.”

Smith is the president of ISU’s chapter of Dance Marathon, a nationwide charity that supports the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. Riley Hospital  for Children in Indianapolis is the closest Children’s Miracle Network hospital.

The event is set for Feb. 27 at Student Recreation Center. Forms can be turned in at room 311 in Erickson Hall. The deadline for registration has been moved back to Friday with the goal of having 150 people sign up.

Smith is joined in leadership by vice president of ISU’s chapter sophomore Natalie Smailis, a communication major Dance Marathon is an event that celebrates those at the hospital  who can’t be there.

“It’s not about dancing for six hours—it is really a celebration,” Smailis said. “We are going to have groups between sports, food and just dancing. It’s not like ballroom dancing either. It’s more [just like hanging out] and dancing like you would at any party.”

Smith and Smailis were worried that the event is getting lost in the fact that there is a registration fee and they said there is a standard, obligated fundraising amount per dancer.

“There is a $12 registration fee, but past that ,if someone shows up and  has raised some money at all, we aren’t going to turn them away,” Smith said. “We just want to get people involved.”

Riley Hospital for Children isn’t your normal hospital; it primarily handles children with cancer and catastrophic diseases.

“I have had friends who were in and out of the hospital,” Smith said, “but when you enter  the hospital, it doesn’t feel like a hospital at all.”

Riley is part of a network of 170 hospitals worldwide that treat 98 percent of all children in the world needing heart or lung transplants. Children’s Miracle Network devotes nearly one-quarter of their resources to new borns who require the most intensive care.

“We just want to get people involved so we can help the kids more,” Smailis said