This Carmel High School teacher's cause gets $25K from 'The Kelly Clarkson Show'

Carmel High School teacher Sarah Wolff sat across from Kelly Clarkson this month and shared why she and her students spent the last nearly 20 years raising money through dance marathons: The families of children at Riley Children's Hospital.

Over the years, Carmel High's dance marathon has raised nearly $6 million dollars and helped many families as a result.

"What that's doing for research and critical care in our own community and for students in our own school is incredible," Wolff told IndyStar. "As the teacher, the human piece here is 10,000 students have participated in this."

In an interview Wednesday the day after the show aired, Wolff told IndyStar that Laura Palmer, a former student who now serves as a senior producer for Clarkson's show, urged her to come on the show and share the story behind the marathons.

Wolff said she was incredibly nervous about going on the show but she did it for a few reasons.

"It came down to number one, it's good for Riley Hospital. That exposure of what we're doing to help that cause can only bring good for the cause that we're trying to fundraise for," Wolff said. "And number two as a teacher, this is a student who was asking me to do something to live her dream. How do you say no to that?"

The efforts of Wolff and her students paid off when Wing Drone Delivery, a sponsor of Clarkson's show, donated $25,000 to their favorite cause.

The annual dance marathon had a modest beginning but grew to be a Carmel High staple, Wolff said.

"We had a couple hundred students standing in the cafeteria and since then it's become a movement," Wolff said on the Dec. 19 show. "It's become a movement at our school."

It's about more than dancing, she told Clarkson.

"The lessons that these students are learning through this event, it's a one-year long effort of fundraising for the children at Riley Hospital, so the students are giving their time throughout the entire year," Wolff said.

Carmel High School's year of fundraising culminates on Feb. 24, 2024, when students participate in the dance marathon, which bills itself as the largest high school marathon in the country in terms of the amount raised and the number of students participating.

Rachel Fradette is a suburban education reporter at IndyStar. Contact her at rfradette@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter at @Rachel_Fradette.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Carmel High's dance marathon win $25K from 'The Kelly Clarkson Show'