Morale has been a staple of the Penn State Dance Marathon for years and was the first official committee of the world's largest student-run philanthropy. Known for keeping dancers motivated and energized while they stand on their feet for 46 hours, moralers are responsible for keeping the energy up, maintaining dancer safety, and being huge fans of the color yellow. With THON a short three days away, we asked ourselves, "What if we had a moraler for everyday life?"
Last year we gave you a beginner's guide to THON 2013, complete with the people, places, and terms you need to know to make it through your first THON weekend. We decided to help out all the newbs again by giving you a refreshed and updated list of how to make your first THON experience the best it can be. Here is your unofficial beginner’s guide to THON weekend.
With THON a short 15 days away, the list of dancers who will be standing for 46 hours has just been released, and just like last year is breaking a new record. Gone are the days of the traditional 708 dancers-- this year the BJC will be home to 711 dancers during THON weekend. Earlier this year it was announced that dancer couples would become a thing of the past, allowing organizations to have an odd number of dancers for the first time in the Dance Marathon's history. A discrepancy similar to last year's that allowed for 710 dancers pushed this year's number to 711.
T'yanna Wallace is not your average Penn State student. While most of us aren't doing a whole lot with our weekends besides waiting in line for the Phyrst, Wallace spends her time working on her clothing line named after her father -- you might have heard of him -- Notorious B.I.G. Yep, her dad is the one and only Biggie Smalls. The Penn State Hazleton junior sat down with us to talk about what it's like to have a notorious dad.
Her battle began around March of last year when she began to notices twitches and small movements. After suffering multiple seizures, the diagnosis was confirmed as cancer. Since the last time we caught up with Kayla, she has hit a couple of "speed bumps," including being taken out of a chemotherapy study and put into a different one because her low blood levels called for a blood transfusion in late November.
More details are emerging about THON's new digital line procedure to help alleviate the line issues that have arisen in recent years.