By Vienna Zerbe
February 24 was York Suburban’s fifth annual Mini-Thon. The celebration raised a total of $85, 720.18. However, that was not the only success that the 2018 Mini-Thon had.
This year’s Mini-Thon has the most money raised out of all the past Thons. The total is 21% increase from last year’s total. Steven Whiteley, the adult director of Mini-Thon, was absolutely ecstatic at the night’s success. Whiteley said, “We had a loose goal, which we had thought was unobtainable. The goal was $80,000. I kept saying one dollar more than last year’s total would be a great goal.”
New events and activities were introduced. One event was the Mr. YS competition. The competition consisted of a group of male students competing for the title of Mr. YS. The students had to undergo in various events such as: a talent portion, a round of questions, and an evening wear pageant.
The students especially enjoyed a performance done by two of the contestants, Jake Taylor (senior) and Ben Salazar (senior). For their talent, the boys performed the iconic final dance from Dirty Dancing. Taylor acted as Patrick Swayze and Salazar as Jennifer Grey. Whiteley said, “It was like they broke Mini-Thon. I could not stop laughing.”
The climax of the night was, as always, the reveal. Whiteley said, “My favorite is always the reveal.” However, this year’s reveal came with a plot twist. “I thought they did such a neat job. I did not think they could pull it off. We raised eighty five thousand dollars. We switched the five and the eight. When they did the reveal and the numbers come up, it says fifty eight thousand dollars.” said Whiteley.
At first discouraged, the students still tried to applaud the amount raised. Whiteley said, “You could tell everyone was thinking it [the total] was nowhere near where it was last year. Then, Katie Hill and Kennedy McKee holding the five and the eight looked at each other and said ‘Wait a minute, that’s not right, those two are switched’, and then they switched. As soon as they switched everyone realized the total was now eighty five. The place went nuts.”
Senior Abbey Probert, one of the co-chairs of this year’s Mini-Thon, is excited about the success Mini-Thon had. Probert said, “I thought it was impressive that we hit over fifty thousand in Donor Drive, which is crazy. That has never happened before. To that’s twenty thousand more dollars than last year. Also, of course, over 60% of the student body was there.”
“The reveal always gives me goosebumps, but family hour is always my favorite part. I love to hear the stories and how we are giving back to them” Probert said.
The students were able to make the event a night to remember. With five hundred thirty attendees, they were able to light up the night. Whether it came from the glow in the dark hallway, the puppy room, or the baking room, the night was an absolute success.