Dance Marathon is what it's all about, but its really it's all for the kids. "FTK! FTK! FTK!" Which hopefully now you have figured out means, For the Kids! I dance for kids with terminal and lifelong illnesses so they can have the chance to put a smile on their faces, to encourage them that they can have more birthdays, and for them to achieve academically and finish high school, even get a college degree. And there are so many more reasons, I honestly could go on for days about why I dance!

My DM experience started my junior year of high school. One of the newer teachers in my high school was highly involved with DM at her college which just happened to be just across the river (the Mississippi) from my high school. She helped bring a mini DM to my high school. That year I my only involvement with DM was asking friends to donate money and going to the event myself as a dancer.

That first year was definitely an experience for me. As it was a mini DM, ours lasted for only four hours. But I was expecting the dancing to be not be too tiring, as I sometimes danced six or more hours, depending on the occasion. So I figured that the Mini DM would be nothing in comparison. I was definitely wrong about that. I could barely walk the following day after our mini DM. But my sluggish pace made me realize that the kids we were raising money and dancing for go through a lot more pain and suffering than I did after just four hours dancing for them.

The next year was my senior year of high school, and I really wanted to make a difference. So I decided that I wanted to be a part of the team of students and teacher advisors who helped put together the big event and helped put together different fundraisers to raise money FTK!

We started meeting around the end of October, having weekly meetings planning out what we needed to do in order to make our DM a success. One of the ideas we had to raise money was to have a money war, where we asked some teachers if they'd be willing to be a part of. Whichever teacher raised the most money by the end of one week had to wear a chicken suit for a whole day of school. Through that alone, we raised more than $300. Another way we raised money was by selling T-shirts for students to wear to our big event, although they didn't have to buy one to be able to come. One other way we raised money, besides donations, was that our school required us to sell tickets in order for our student body to come to our event, that way random people off the streets wouldn't show up.

A few months before our big event, I was asked to be a part of a professional ballet production. It was a very hard decision to make because if I accepted the role, I would not be able to be at our big event because one of the performances was at the same time. So, I talked about it with one of the teacher advisors for DM (the one who helped bring DM to my high school) and she being also a former dancer said that she'd have a tough time deciding too. But if it was her, she'd take the opportunity to be in a professional production even though DM means a lot to her. So I decided I would accept the role in the production. However, that did not keep me from being as involved as ever with preparing for our big event.

A week or two before the big event, we got a video from the college that we were doing our DM through, of the morale dance. The morale dance is something that is done throughout the event to keep everyone's energy up. Since I wasn't going to be able to be at the event, and because I am dancer, I took on the task of learning it first in order for me to be able to teach the rest of the DM committee how to do it. Let me tell you, for being an easy dance move, it took a little while to learn and memorize it. Eventually though I was able to do it in my sleep and teach the others well enough so they could do it at the big event.

The day before our big event, we had a flash mob at all four of the lunches at my high school. With dancing, running around the cafeteria and ending it by leading everyone in a chant. "FTK! FTK! FTK!" We probably should have warned the staff that was in the cafeteria though, 'cause during the first lunch one of the security guards turned off our music that we had playing 'cause he had no idea what was going on. That was something we took note of for next year.

Although I was not there to witness our big event, I would definitely say it was a success. Hearing from my fellow committee members about how much energy there was in the room. And our hard work definitely paid off when we saw how much we raised. Our goal for that year was $2,000 since the year before we had raised around $1,000. As you can see though from the picture above we passed our goal that year.

So that was my senior year, and I was off to college in the fall. I made sure I decided on a college that had a Dance Marathon. Although if it didn't, I would have tried to start one myself. As a freshman, I had no idea what my college's DM was going to be like. Apparently, though, at my college it's mainly a sorority/fraternity thing, and there aren't many people who get involved in it that's not in a sorority/fraternity. I, however, as dance major felt like I'd be too busy to join one, so I decided that I would sign up for DM as an individual. I found out at the event that I was one of fewer than 10 that was not a part of a sorority/fraternity.

My college's DM lasted for 10 hours, or at least it was supposed to. I thought that you had to stay there the whole time, which was no problem at all to be there the whole 10 hours. According to the ones in charge, you could come and go as you please, also they did the big reveal of what our school raised at least 45 minutes before the end of the event and were like you can leave now if you'd like, or you can stay; we don't care. I found this really strange and offensive to the kids we were dancing for. The kids can't just come and go as they please from the children's hospitals; they can't just leave early if they feel like it. I thought that we were there dancing for 10 hours on our feet without sitting for a reason. To show that we can take practically a whole day out of our busy college student lives and support the kids that have terminal and lifelong illnesses. I felt like anyone who left early or went and came as they pleased were being rude. Sorry if that's an unpopular opinion, but it's my opinion.

The one requirement that they had was that we all had to raise at least $200. So that it was I did. Thanks to a few family members and myself, I raised exactly $200. However I hope this coming year leading up to my school's big event to raise at least double that amount, if not more.

Although this past year I was away at college and involved with many things there, I kept in touch when some friends at my high school who were on the DM committee there. They were as busy as ever preparing for their big event all year. I was always getting updates from one of them on how their preparing and fundraising was going. This year at my high school was the first year that they were going to allow guests to come to their big event, which included students from other high schools and college kids like me (as long as they were in the age limit of a normal dance guest that my high school has set).

It felt great to come to my high school to be a part of this awesome cause. Besides just being able to go to the event, I was able to help them set up the gym for it, and I also helped them take down all the decorations after the event. It was an awesome feeling be able to help at the event since I didn't get to help with that my senior year there.

If I am being truly honest, my high school's DM topped my college's this past school year. I'm proud to say that actually. Since I was a part of the committee at my high school at one point. But either way, it's all #FTKallDMday! Every penny counts in helping kids with terminal and lifelong illnesses, no matter how good or bad the event is.