Penn State President Eric Barron took to the THON stage in the waning hours of the event to champion the dancers who have come so close to completing their 46-hour goal and the community as a whole for making a Penn State dance marathon unlike any other dance marathon.

He certainly didn’t receive a warm welcome, walking to the center of the stage receiving plenty of boos likely due to the university measures in the past year to change the Greek Life culture.

It didn’t deter the president from getting his message across — praising what people in the THON community have done.

“Everybody is copying you. There are many THONs. There is no THON like a Penn State THON,” Barron said. “And now we just have one question. From all the people that are out there watching, as we know they are watching by the thousands and they’re watching from all across the world. That question is a simple one. How much are they going to add to the 147 million that you have raised so far.”

“Thank you for what you do. I brag about you constantly and I wish you the very best and I hope it’s a huge total later on today,” he added.

His stage exit was much different than his entrance with the crowd appreciating his words of encouragement in these final hours.