In an effort to benefit the Children’s Hospital of D.C. and the Children’s Miracle Network, approximately 40 students spent a night dancing for charity in Georgetown’s first all-night dance marathon. Although exact figures are not available, Shining Hsu (SFS ’01), the corporate sponsorship chair of the Hoya-Thon steering committee, estimated that the total profit was $5,000.

The students danced from 8 p.m. Friday evening until 8 p.m. Saturday in the Village C Formal Lounge, where there was new entertainment each hour, including the rock band Granian and various deejays and spotlight speakers.

Kevin Preis (COL ’01), chair of the Hoya-Thon Steering Committee, said one of the major goals for this year’s dance marathon was to make a significant enough impact to ensure that it will be an annual event.

“We hoped to awaken Georgetown to not only how much a dance marathon can accomplish, but also to what a wonderful and fun experience it can be, so that hopefully the event will grow bigger each year,” Preis said. “Our goal for this year was to get everyone at the event to realize what it could be . next year will be a year building off the work from this year.”

According to Preis, approximately 70 students were involved in the planning of the event, including a morale staff that was responsible for encouraging and energizing dancers.

“The reward comes in meeting the children who will benefit from Hoya-Thon. These kids have faced things that grown adults have never faced. They are all winners,” Hsu said.

Mike Brandt (COL ’01), who was in charge of facilities, operations and finance for the group, said the most rewarding part of working on Hoya-Thon “has been knowing that it is for a good cause and that our efforts will help better the lives of children in need.”

Dance marathon programs are run at several college campuses, including Penn State University, which ran the nation’s first collegiate charity dance marathon and now raises $3 million annually for Children’s Miracle Network.

“The student organizations of Georgetown University have been fantastic at working to raise money for Hoya-Thon,” Preis said.

Hoya-Thon sought to get the entire campus involved in its efforts to raise money. Among the participating organizations were Hoya Humanitarians, Senior Class Committee, Hoya Blue, Georgetown Program Board, GUSA and APO.

The Children’s Miracle Network is dedicated to improving the quality of life for hospitalized children and uses its funds to create awareness programs that benefit children and affiliated hospitals. The money raised by Hoya-Thon helps provide free care for local children who otherwise cannot afford treatment, Preis said.

Children’s Hospital of D.C. is part of the Children’s National Medical Center and dedicates a significant portion of its services to neo-natal care. It is currently conducting the largest fundraising drive in the history of American pediatric hospitals, to which the Hoya-Thon funds will be contributed.