As dancers would fill the Bryce Jordan Center year after year, time almost disappeared. Once all organizations and dancers stood, it was go-time. Dancers had support surrounding them for the full 46 hours while members of their organizations could root them on.

It was, and still is, magical.

This year, though, organizations needed to find an alternative to be core supporters. We had the opportunity to speak to a few organizations and how they cheer their dancers on hourly.

For the architecture-based fraternity Alpha Rho Chi, THON Chair Cait Kanallis has just the plan for dancers Erik Frantz and Josiah Kim.

The fraternity created a THON-inspired space for Frantz and Kim. Luckily, the house has brothers present and is alongside them each hour. This provides motivation for the two dancers to never sit down.

At certain hours of the night, the brothers are taking shifts to check on Frantz and Kim and keep them entertained.

“We have set up a Twitch account in our living room for our donors to see them dance and sing karaoke,” Kanallis said. “We have balloons and letters all over the place to replicate [the THON environment].”

Along with karaoke, Frantz and Kim take on dares their organization provides to help pass the time. While they dance, do dares, or stream on Twitch, everything they do is focused on donations.

The Twitch stream has given them an outlet to get their performance face on and distract themselves whenever possible. This shows viewers and donors they are still dancing “FTK.”

All in all, Kanallis’ main goal is to keep them busy throughout the whole weekend. She even mentioned an idea they were implementing: placing black curtains around the windows to show no indication of what time it is (almost as if they were in the BJC).

Another organization we had the honor of talking to is DASH, a special interest organization solely existing to fundraise for THON. It had a busy year finding ways to stay active virtually.

President Brad Shafer said that four dancers are participating with DASH. They are split up in pairs between two apartments and keep each other company with Zoom icebreakers and online Wii matches.

When the dancers aren’t watching the live stream events, DASH members join the four to participate in virtual games and activities they created during prep for THON.

“Throughout the year, we would play Zoom icebreakers at our weekly meetings,” Shafer said. “We put all of those together and play them throughout this weekend.”

Saturday afternoon, DASH organized a socially distanced scavenger hunt around campus to keep the dancers’ blood flowing. Members were able to attend and continuously cheer them on.

Something that really puts the DASH dancers in a proper mindset is spending time with their Four Diamonds families and their full organization. On Sunday morning, they have scheduled a Zoom game time and bonding to encourage strength to their dancers before the THON 2021’s final four hours begin.

Across the pond at Penn State Behrend, organizations are ready to support each and every dancer.

Executive Director and Primary Chair of Behrend Benefitting THON Jennifer Gustafson believes that the mission of THON is alive more than ever this year.

Because Behrend is a smaller branch campus than others, dancers had the in-person opportunity to gather in one of its larger spaces, McGarvey Commons, to celebrate (safely).

Behrend has three screens up to project University Park’s live stream, its alumni “game-a-thon” stream, and any Zoom calls with their THON families.

“We have support from our school, housing, and food services to provide nutrition for our dancers,” Gustafson said. “We have badminton, cornhole, board games, coloring books, and so much more.”

On top of activities, students around Behrend’s campus are able to safely pop in and cheer on the dancers throughout their journey. This motivates the dancers because it gives them a glimpse of past THONs and provides more support than they imagined.

Events and talents are scheduled all weekend while viewing University Park’s livestream, so each dancer has something to do on their hands. Gustafson is let us know that each dancer is supported as much as possible during this unique THON experience.

At the end of the day, each dancer is focused on standing and dancing for a cure. Each donation, THON family, and exciting event is dedicated to the kids who deserve an absolutely full and bright future.