By Kim Nguyen ’23
Wyoming Seminary has always encouraged its students to give back to the community. Through community service, food/clothing drives, and dress down days supporting all different kinds of charities and organizations, Sem students have made an impact. The Sem Dance Marathon being a model example of this message by being such a successful event every year. It was started 11 years ago by Elizabeth Blaum ‘07 who returned to Sem in the Student Life office and as a coach. Inspired by the Dance Marathon at Ball State University, she had the idea to bring it to our campus, raising $12,678 in 2012.
SemDM is almost entirely run by students and all of the proceeds go to the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville, PA. Everyone supports this huge event like students, alumni, families, and local businesses. The main way to donate is through the Donor Drive Website, and can even be a way to win points for Societies. There are many other fun and interactive ways that you can donate as well. You can get a sweet treat at Ritas or a yoga class at Melt Hot Yoga and money is donated. Tunes for Tots makes for an opportunity to play all your favorite songs at lunch. Also a Calendar Raffle with over $3,000 of prizes. Spirits are raised high through the “Week of Miracles”. Through poster parties, themed outfits, and a Just Dance battle between faculty, SemDM’s core values of friendship, outreach, service, and community are highlighted.
The event itself is held in the Blue Gym decorated with student-made posters, lights, and streamers. The main focus is on the Miracle Kids, those who have received treatment at Janet Weis. A video is shown describing their journey and are introduced on stage accompanied by their families. After, there are many fun and interactive activities, like the Morale Dance, Just Dance battles, and lip-sync battles. A very popular event is the auction to have a chance to pie a teacher in the face. Mrs. Stevenson, the faculty sponsor, says “My favorite part of the event was seeing the miracle kids have the time of their life at the event! They truly felt like they belonged at our event. I also enjoyed speaking with the parents of the miracle kids and hearing the stories of the journey they went through with their children as well as talking about how their children are doing right now.” For what drew her to be a sponsor of this event, it is for all of its positive messages and core values. She says that “It restores my faith in today’s youth. I have personally known children that needed specialized medical treatment at the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital and I have seen the strain that this puts on the child’s family.”
Since the event is mainly student run I have talked with student leaders of two different committees. Ama Reitsma ‘23 is an executive of the Families committee. Her group meets with the Miracle Kids and their families to make them comfortable and even incorporate their favorites into the event. Her favorite event is the Morale Dance saying, “It’s so amazing to watch everyone come together as a community and support such a deserving cause, but it’s even more amazing to watch how happy the Miracle Kids are to be a part of this event.” Paul Stevenson ‘24 is an executive of the Fundraising committee. His group deals with the numbers side of the event. All of the fundraising events that have been mentioned, his board deals with.
In the end, $46,565 was raised, beating their record beating amount last year by $52. Ama says “I think it’s safe to say we were all incredibly shocked by the amount we raised this year. All the execs and members of SemDM worked tirelessly to make this event as special as possible and we would’ve been so grateful for any amount, but I have to say beating last year’s amount felt especially amazing.” Paul ‘22 has similar sentiments saying “The 46,000 is just the icing on top to be honest… seeing their [Miracle Kids] reactions that day, the smiles and joy radiating from their faces, makes the months of work worth it. Even if we only fundraised a few dollars, it wouldn’t matter as the Miracle Kids are why we do it year after year and just having them there means the world to us!” Over the last 11 years, SemDM has raised $272,323.