Photo by Nikki Hunt
After Suburban’s huge success for Minithon last year there are hopes that the 2014-2015 class of students can make this year’s Mini-THON even more spectacular.
Mini-THON is supported by the Four Diamonds Fund and operates around fun-filled activities that inspire teamwork, creativity, and leadership in order to raise money for childhood cancer patients. THONS are entirely student led and last for hours on end.
Last year was York Suburban’s first year of participating in Mini-THON. With the help of an overwhelming amount of students, staff, parents, and other sponsors, York Suburban High School was able to bring in $28,284.29 for kids with pediatric cancer. “Bringing in that amount of money brought a huge feeling of amazement and pride in our school,” said junior Kelsey Abel.
In addition to raising the money, there was an all night Mini-THON that went from 10pm-5am. Here students could participate in sports like dodgeball, basketball, and swimming as well as other activities such as dancing and zumba. The only rule was that nobody was allowed to sit, lay down, or sleep for any portion of the night. It was constant activity.
There is a hope that there will be an even larger turnout for this year’s Mini-THON. Sophomore Megan Hunt described her disappointment over the fact that “last year Mini-THON was between districts for the swim team, and the coach didn’t want our sleep schedules disturbed.” Thankfully, with the change of date to February 20th this year, that will not cause any conflict for the swim team.
Now that the students know what the experience of Mini-THON is like, a higher student body may be present as well. “Everyone who didn’t go was ultimately disappointed as they saw through social media how much fun everyone had” explains Junior Vice President Elizabeth Snyder, who plans to attend again this year. Among the more important reasons to go, she says “it’s also a great excuse to take cute pictures.”
Previous methods of raising money for the event such as canning at sports events and local businesses are being used even more rigorously and frequently this year. In addition to the previous methods, there was a Color Clash Friday October 24th where students payed $20 to run in a paint spraying, color bursting marathon.