After months of planning, the big day finally arrived for Lehigh Valley Academy’s Mini-THON committee. On March 24 LVA held their very first Mini-THON to raise money for pediatric cancer research.

From the beginning, LVA had set a goal to raise $10,000. However, with dedication and hard work LVA had aimed to surpass this goal. LVA was one of many schools that took part in this rewarding event. Four Diamonds Mini-THON is an organization that allows all students to plan their interactive events throughout their school and community to help raise money towards pediatric cancer patients at Pennsylvania State Children’s Hospital.

Nearly 90,000 students throughout the country annually take part in this rewarding goal. Throughout the process, Penn State aids students and advisors when needed. Each year a Mini-THON Leadership Summit is held to give students and advisors the opportunity to network and share ideas with other schools free of charge.

Over the summer, advisor Ariella Mease and student leader junior Vidhya Thiyagarajan attended the leadership summit. When asking Mease if she attended the summit, she stated “I did attend the summit! It was a wonderful experience! Vidhya and I went. We got the opportunity to hear from children and families who have been helped from Four Diamonds and Mini-THONs. It was great for us to see where our money is going. We also got to talk with other schools who have already done Mini-THONs. I got a ton of cool ideas on how to make ours as successful as possible for the first one!”

Throughout the year with the help of advisor Mease, series of events and fundraisers were held to help achieve this goal. Various events such as No Shave November, Animal Land Fundraiser, Snow Tubing Fundraiser, Bon-Ton Coupon Booklet sales, and paid dress downs took place to help achieve this goal. Out of all the events, No Shave November was by far the most exciting event for both students and teachers. Throughout the month of November male teachers had the opportunity to partake in the No Shave November event. During this event, each teacher was given a donation bin where students could donate their money throughout the entire month. The teacher with the most amount of money at the end of the month was required to shave off their beard.

After a month of anticipation and excitement, seventh-grade science teacher Peter Yablonski had won with a whopping $50.48. Overall, the event had raised a total of $218.60. On March 24 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. LVA hosted their first Mini- Thon ® event, all students in grades K to 12 were invited to participant in the event. Registration for the event was only $10 and included free food, drink, and games. During the event there were various event and activities attendants could take part in, such as, a bouncy house obstacle course, face painting, temporary tattoos, M&M challenge, four corners, hula hoop contest, guess that song, dancing, basketball, and dodgeball.

As the yearlong planning for Mini-THON dwindles down, I asked a few committee members to reflect upon their time planning the event. Student leader Thiyagarajan said “Organizing a Mini-THON has been a very challenging, yet rewarding experience! A lot of time and effort from our committee members has been going into creating a successful Mini-THON, as well as raising our goal of $10,000.

“I am very happy to participate in it, knowing that we are making a difference in the lives of several families. Also, I am excited to integrate this new tradition into LVA and raise school spirit throughout the community,” said Thiyagarajan. This rewarding feeling appeared to be a common theme when speaking to other members. After a year of planning, LVA’s Mini-THON committee raised a total of more than $8,200. As the year dwindles down, LVA is committed to helping fight pediatric cancer. Planning for next year’s Mini-THON event has already begun.