Mississippi State is finally joining the movement, friends, and you need to have a part in it.

Dance Marathon is a movement occurring nationwide, in both colleges and high schools, just to help Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, and it's coming to our campus in Spring 2016.

The whole thing started with one kid. Ryan White was 13 years old when he contracted AIDS from contaminated blood transfusions he received for hemophilia. When this news became public, he was banned from attending classes by his school district. He took it to court and attracted the attention of celebrities such as Elton John, who helped spread his story and the awareness of AIDS.

Ryan won the right to attend school again, but he was shunned by his peers, and after a bullet was shot into his home, his family moved to Indiana.

Ryan became the face of a movement, advocating for AIDS awareness and appearing at schools all across the nation.

Unfortunately, Ryan White lost his fight with AIDS on April 8, 1990 at the age of 18, right before he was meant to attend Indiana University.

But his impact didn't end there.

Ryan's friends came together with the desire to keep his memory alive, and in 1991, they hosted the first ever IUDM. In its first year, the Dance Marathon at Indiana University raised $10,900.

Three years later, they were approached by CMN Hospitals to help take their new fundraising model to four other universities. In 1994 and 1995, The University of Iowa, The University of Florida, Bowling Green State University, and Florida State all joined CMN Hospitals and Indiana University to being a spectacular movement.

And it's all done For The Kids.

In 2012, $11.8 million was raised between 250 universities and since then, the numbers have only been rising.

But what does all this mean for you?

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Bulldogs, you better get ready because STATEDM is happening in Spring 2016.

On February 26, 2016, Mississippi State University is holding its first ever Dance Marathon to raise money for Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. We will be going hard for 6 straight hours and 100% of the proceeds will go to help kids in need.

When you register, you'll be placed on a color team that you will stick with for the duration of StateDM. There will be games, dancing, food, and a whole lot of fun, and it's open to every student at Mississippi State University.

The original mission statement of this movement is, "Dance Marathon will be the beginning of a tradition... We will dance every year until we don't have sick children. We will dance every year so that the children at the hospital can enroll in college and dance and help other children who will be cured... We will dance every year so that when you stop dreaming you can come to campus and see what happens when a few people get together and dare to dream..."

Sign up. Get your friends to sign up. We are trying to raise as much money as we possibly can for these sick children so that they can one day, come to a university like ours and live fully. We are doing this to give kids a chance at a life that may seem unrealistic to them.

A life free of illness is something that we take for granted on a daily basis. All we can do, though, is work to give a chance to the kids who are not as fortunate as we are.

Come out and dance. Spare six hours of your weekend to hang out with friends for something that is so much bigger than all of us. We want you there to have a hand in helping save lives. Even if you cannot come, donate. Do everything you possibly can, and do it all For The Kids.