Of the hundreds of objects waving in the Bryce Jordan Center THON crowd — giant letters, faces of dancers, Snoopy sleeping on top of his doghouse — one prop was especially effective when it came to bringing the thunder.

GammAcacia — a combined THON org consisting of members from Acacia Fraternity and Gamma Phi Beta –continued its tradition of using thundersticks to make some noise and join in the festivities during the Pep Rally Saturday night. Thundersticks, a crowd favorite at sporting events across the globe, are long, tubular, ballon-like sticks that make a loud clapping noise when smacked against each other.

The sticks are hidden in the stands until the GammAcacia dancers on the floor are given a pair. The dancers then lead their org-mates in the stands in a series of stick-hitting chants to the beat of the music.

“The dancers lead us in different cheers with the sticks,” member Eric Yamada said.

GammAcacia was created in 2007 and is composed of more than 300 student members. It’s the first org in THON history to be paired with four Four Diamonds families and has donated more than $1,000,000 to the Four Diamonds Fund since its inception, according to THON’s official website.