You could say John Wortman’s road to dancing in THON was a little unconventional.

Wortman didn’t know he would be dancing in THON until two weeks ago when he was selected to dance for the College Republicans through the THON lottery process. While he’s proud to be able to represent the College Republicans in THON this year (“We shattered our THON total from last year,” he said), he knew that he was already at a disadvantage due to the lack of preparation time. Other dancers had months to prepare for 46 hours of standing on their feet; he had a mere two weeks.

Immediately, Wortman began preparing by cutting some unhealthy habits from his life. “I gave up caffeine, which was big,” said Wortman. He also tried to sleep more and incorporate more exercise into his daily routine. There were some habits he couldn’t quit, however.

“I was going to start eating healthy, but that was taking it too far,” joked Wortman.

Wortman also spends time pre-student teaching at a local school during the week, which complicated his preparation process as he has to be at the school five days a week at 7:30 a.m. Luckily for Wortman, class was canceled on Friday due to the weather. He may not be so lucky on Monday.

Regardless, Wortman has held his own this weekend and he remains in in high spirits heading into the final ten hours despite being a little delirious (his DRCMer said he keeps trying to take off a bucket hat that he’s clearly not wearing). However, he still hasn’t lost sight of what makes THON special.

“My favorite THON moment so far was when it actually started. It’s so neat to see all the different organizations have the same goal for one weekend.”

He continued: “The best part about dancing is having our club’s hard work vindicated. We absolutely want to further our club’s involvement with THON in the future.”

And as for showing up to his pre-student teaching position on Monday at 7:30 in the morning?

“That’s the goal. You know me: I like to be prepared.”