Christmas is known as the happiest time of the year. Families are reunited around the Christmas tree. Delicious food is eaten, and nobody worries about the weight they’ll gain. Santa comes to town, and smiles are found on every child’s face as they come downstairs to see the presents under the tree. Well, most children’s…. Some kids have to replace holiday food with hospital food, if they don’t have a feeding tube. Instead of laughing with family, some kids get IVs, surger

Stitch says that Ohana means family. But what does family mean? According to Dictionary.com, family means: “a group of objects united by a significant shared characteristic.” UNI Dance Marathon has created a family over the past 5 years. A group of students, faculty, miracle families, and kiddos, that are united by a significant shared characteristic: ending childhood illnesses. Here is my story about joining the UNI DM Family: As a freshman coming to UNI back in ‘12, I w

When and why did you initially get involved with Dance Marathon? I initially got involved with Dance Marathon because a few of my close friends were heavily involved and loved the organization. My first year I started out as a dancer and that’s when I fell in love with it as well! What committees have you been a part of? After my first year participating as a dancer I decided to get more involved so I joined the Public Relations committee! Going into my senior year and kn

I remember when I used to beg my parents non-stop just so I could stay up just a half hour past my bedtime. I can remember riding a bike for the first time too. In the Konfrst household, the only time the kids were up past their bedtime during the week was the Sunday night of the Superbowl each year. America’s past time is baseball, mine was riding the ole’ Huffy around. At the time, a giant fence to keep in two dogs surrounded my house, or so I thought. I was consistently to

Homework. Crying. Reading. Crying. Writing. Crying. Stress. Crying. Yes, this is how we describe finals week. Well, maybe this isn’t how you would describe it but trust me, at least 5 people will agree with this statement (right?). We might cry over homework and school, but the kiddos cry over things that are so much bigger than us and than we can ever imagine. As we finish up our fall semester of college, for some it is your first semester of college ever and for others

Are we doing enough? Do you ever have one of those days where you question if you are enough? Are you doing enough? I have asked myself that a lot lately. I think as a person of DM, it is a natural question to ask yourself. We are supposed to be working hard to raise money and offer support to our kiddos. If you are a true Dance Marathoner, you will never feel like you are doing enough, but that is a good thing. Dance Marathon wants you to feel like that. When you feel lik

Where Are Your Donations Going? How does my donation help the kids? Where is this money going? What kids? Where are these kids? What hospital? We spend an entire year raising money for the kids. We ask friends and family for donations; some of us will even get on stage and lip sync in front of the entire student union for a date auction if it means we are helping the kids. But do you know where that money is going? Well, let me tell you. I promise everything that UNI Dance