Dance Marathon held in SWHS gym for Cancer Research

Keegan Harris, Commonwealth Journal, Somerset, Ky.
·3 min read

Dec. 1—Scootin' boots and cuttin' a rug, Southwestern High School students danced the night away Friday night to raise money for the UK DanceBlue Clinic.

Southwestern High School students and faculty participated in a Mini Marathon Friday. Going from the end of the school day to almost 9 p.m., the dance mini marathon saw kids dancing and singing along with University of Kentucky's DanceBlue team in the SWHS gymnasium.

Each hour had a different theme. One theme was "Aloha Warriors" which had students dress up in luau-themed outfits. There was also "Cosmic Cowboy" hour where kids wore some ten-gallon hats and tin-foil hats. The last hour saw local musicians play live music like Jadan Trammell.

The mini marathon was for the benefit of UK's Dance Blue Pediatric Hematology & Oncology is in Lexington Kentucky which conducts treatment and research for families with children struggling with cancer. DanceBlue clinic shares a name with the DanceBlue student-run organization that fundraises year-round for the DanceBlue Clinic and coordinates 24-hour no sitting, no sleeping dance marathons all over Kentucky.

This was the first DanceBlue event hosted at SWHS, but there seemed to be clear consensus that such an event would take place again soon.

Almost 200 SWHS students danced along side the UK students, many of whom were once SWHS students themselves.

Once such student was Chase Eastham, who was told about DanceBlue when he was in elementary school. When he went to UK he kept his nose out for the program so that he himself could be involved.

"It's really cool to see the reach and the spread of this organization across the state," said Eastham. "It's inspiring to see young individuals get involved in such a great cause... I'm glad to see that Southwestern is holding a many marathon and contributing to such a great cause."

Business and marketing teacher Rachel Crockett had done a lot of organizing herself and was very pleased with how the night was shaping up.

"It's bigger than what we expected for the first year!" said Crockett.

Fellow business teacher Chris Muse was also proud of how the event was going and felt the students enjoyed the event too. Muse ran the playlist for the students to dance to which included both newer and older hits selected by DanceBlue.

"We've had some students who had cancer over the last few years, a lot of the students knew them personally who wanted to help out," said Muse.

A couple students of these who battled cancer and survived spoke at the event. One such student was 12-grader Carl Barber. Barber had a brain tumor that affected his spinal cord which he found when he went into apply for a job in town and passed out while meeting the hiring manager.

Barber was a patient at DanceBlue Clinic and is a big supporter of the program.

"They took good care of me there. All of the nurses know me by name and face," he said.

His results are indicative of their care as Barber is now in full remission.

In preparation for the event, groups of students had gone out to different businesses to get pledges like Bear Wallow Farms, Branscum Dentistry, and First Christian Church of Somerset. There was also a button online to raise money on the school website. The National Guard also donated a lot of money, which is why the event's t-shirt had the Army National Guard's logo on the back.

Students and faculty had been organizing and raising money since August. All told, the students raised around they raised around $5,700 for the DanceBlue clinic.