“Why do you dance?” It’s a question heard around the BJC all weekend. There are thousands of reasons dancers participate in THON, both personal and all-encompassing.

Roshan Promisel, one of four students dancing for Penn State’s Phi Mu sorority, has faces young and old on her mind. She’s dancing for her sorority’s THON children: Elizabeth, Auburn, Maddie, Cora, and Isaac, but thoughts of the funeral she’s attending just one day after her 46-hours on the BJC floor will carry her though the final hours.

Promisel, a junior, said that on top of dancing for the kids, she “knew she had to dance when [her] grandfather was beginning to lose his battle to a disease similar to Parkinson’s.” Promisel’s grandfather passed away in November.

While memories of “Bon-Papa” will motivate Promisel throughout the weekend, she believes that THON is all about the kids she has come to know and love.

“I’m most excited for seeing a couple THON families over the weekend and having the opportunity to hang out with them,” she said. “Roshan is the real spirit of THON,” said her sorority sister Alex Casement. “She has a spirit that is so positive, she could be her own moraler.”

Casement also acknowledged Promisel’s behind the scenes efforts. “She goes above and beyond with both fundraising efforts, family involvement and support for her sisters while demanding no credit.” Promisel said she’s hopeful that “one day, no parent ever has to hear the words ‘your child has cancer’ again.”

“Together we will get through the weekend for the bravest children in the world,” she said.

photo: Roshan Promisel