THON 2015: If You Could Have One Wish

A THON dancer is more than a student dressed in tres chic neon attire, standing on their feet and dancing for 46 consecutive hours. A THON dancer represents optimism. With this bit of inspiration, we fight even harder in the battle against pediatric cancer. When you are on the dance floor, looking around at all the upbeat individuals resisting the urge to sit down all in the name of fighting for the cause, you can’t help but be incredibly proud of them. We couldn’t help but wonder what these dedicated dancers are wishing for or thinking about during this time. Valley had a chance to catch up with some of the dancers to find out just what that might be.

Rachel Bove, a dancer representing the Lionettes, is focused on standing up for the kids but an order of pasta in vodka sauce from Faccia Luna’s has crossed her mind once or twice. (totes understand!)

The top three wishes for Anthony Daurora, a dancer for Chi Phi, are:

“For every kid to have the best weekend of their lives, the families to enjoy themselves and for all the volunteers to see the true meaning of THON. It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday struggles of life and forget what it means to help other people,” Daurora says.

“On my THON form I wrote that I wanted to get a piggy back from the Nittany Lion or Coach James Franklin then get a picture with them on stage. But if I truly could have anything, it would be having my two childhood friends who were diagnosed with cancer to be here with me,” Diana Kordek, representing Sigma Kappa, says.

Not only does Fernando Fuentes, from Alpha Tau Omega, wish that every affected child wins the fight against pediatric cancer, he wants to pitch an idea to President Eric Barron.

“I want to talk to him about having a clean energy competition. I think Penn State should have one. We need to be up there with MIT, Stanford and Berkeley,” he says.

As the largest, student-run philanthropy in the world, THON strives to make a better future, and these few dancers’ wishes proves it.

What would your wish be? Comment below!

Photos by Danielle Gallo