Last Friday, eight teams of students, joined by some enthusiastic younger participants, danced the night away at Hoyathon, Georgetown’s annual dance marathon in Sellinger Lounge. The event raised nearly $8,500 for the Children’s National Medical Center, the D.C. affiliate of the Children’s Miracle Network.
Co-Chairs Jess McCamy (COL ’11) and Kat Tuckett (COL ’11) and 10 other board members have been planning the event since September. Prior to the event, the eight registered teams raised $6,000, though the event itself raised nearly $2,500 more. The nine members of the winning team, The Flying Muffins, raised over $1,000. Hoyathon also received numerous in-kind donations from Chipotle, Johnny Rockets, Wingo’s, The Tombs, Wisemiller’s, Coke Zero and other organizations.
The Phantoms, Cabaret, Superfood, the Saxatones, Pep Band and the Capitol G’s performed at the event. The Irish Step Team and Jiwani also attended and taught participants some of their dance moves.
About 100 students participated in the dance marathon, and about 25 of them danced for 16 hours straight.
Each hour of the dance marathon had a different theme, such as Boy Bands vs. Pop Princesses, Disney, Middle School Dance, Diva, Bling Bling and Superheroes, which kept dancers motivated between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. Dancers also played freeze dance, musical chairs, trivia games and had dance-offs throughout the night. Other activities including Twister, beanbag tosses, a giant Connect Four, hulahoops and arcade basketball hoops were set up around the dance floor.
One team, You Can Have It Your Way But Don’t Get Crazy, was not worried about getting tired or bored, however.
“We’ll be inventing a new dance move every hour,” Jillian Dunning (SFS ’10) said. According to the Hoyathon’s fundraising Web site, Dunning and her fellow group members raised $270 prior to the event.
Shortly after the 8 p.m. kickoff, Olivia, a member of the CMN Champions Program, arrived with her mother and Jon Hewitt, the CMN representative who worked with Hoyathon board members. Amanda, another member of the CMN Champions Program, also attended with her family.
McCamy said in an e-mail that she really enjoyed watching the children from CMN dancing with the older students.
“They were singing and dancing with Cabaret, requesting Miley Cyrus at the DJ table and dancing their shoes off – literally,” McCamy wrote.
At the end of Hoyathon on Saturday morning, Jessica, a member of the CMN Champions Program, arrived with her family. Jessica is a spina bifida patient who has been going to CMN since she was born. McCamy and the other board members were delighted to have her at the Hoyathon.
“We love seeing her every year. She’s become a staple part of our group and told us she thinks of us as big sisters,” McCamy said.”
