Notre Dame’s Mini-Thon: An experience I am so grateful I have never skipped out on. Many of my peers, especially this year have asked me why? Why would you want to put your body through the type of pain which comes along with standing for 24 hours?

My answer stays consistent every time. The members of Notre Dame HS who have participated in Mini-Thon do this for solely one reason: the kids with pediatric cancer. I look at myself in comparison to the kids who have lost their lives or fought it. We all dance until a cure is be found. We do this for them.

This year, Notre Dame’s Mini-thon ran for 24 hours from Feb. 17 to the 18, unlike other high schools where participants only dance for 12 hours.

The preparations for Mini-Thon are major and require a lot of effort put into this 24-hour event. Teams make posters; organizers gain sponsors; teacher team leaders put in communication efforts; student council helps set up and find speakers, but most importantly Mrs. Fenton puts her utmost support and effort toward always making our Mini-Thon a success. Even spectating as an outsider, our community sees and acknowledges the effort Mrs. Fenton puts into Mini-Thon and the amount of importance her presence brings to this event. Without her, our Mini-Thon would truly not be as successful and the same. She truly does everything to keep Mini-thon a smooth and exciting night.

We started our journey at 9 a.m. with music blasting and morale high. Before Mini-Thon, each participant is assigned a designated color and team which brings life to the scene and helps us all stay organized in one large space.

Throughout the day, activities including games, challenges, zumba, jazzercise, haircuts, braiding, a live band, speakers, and of course dancing could be seen by supportive visitors. The dancing is fun but hearing the variety of stories from parents and survivors is truly eye opening and brought every single person standing for hours together.

As the night calmed down, dancers became slower, and as we all became more tired, anticipating the last minutes brought about much glee. But as the DJ counted down from 10 to 1 second, the night didn’t feel over. The loving feeling and smile implanted on my face just wouldn’t go away.

As a junior, I have experienced Mini-Thon twice and each time has become a core memory of my high school career. An extraordinary amount of emotions are released when you are surrounded by the people you value most in life while experiencing the thrill of standing for such a long time. After going through the experience of Mini-Thon again, I view life differently, look at myself a different way, and truly cherish every moment I have. Even though I only danced for 24 hours, I still provided pediatric cancer research for over 10 months and helped raise over $100,000 and that’s what is most important. We all did this for the kids, and I am glad to say I will be doing it again for them my senior year.