Junior high to hold dance marathon

    The Washington Junior High School will be the site of a miniature ?Dance Marathon? for the second year in a row. The event will be held on Saturday night, Jan. 30 in the junior high gymnasium. The dance is being organized by two ninth-grade students, Johannah Vittetoe and Lexi Marek, as part of a class they?re taking called ?Social Problems.?

    Rachel Meyer, a social studies teacher at the junior high, is the instructor for ?Social Problems? and said that all the students who take her class must complete 10 hours of community service. The community service program that is part of the nine-week class is known as S.T.A.R. (Service To Area Residents). She said a few of her students have chosen to organize a mini-dance marathon for the past two years as part of their community service.

    Dance Marathon began as an event at the University of Iowa in 1995 to raise money for the University of Iowa Children?s Hospital. Specifically, the money has gone to provide emotional and financial support for pediatric oncology and to children who need bone marrow transplants. University students who have raised the required amount of money are invited to participate in the 24-hour dance marathon that includes games and live entertainment. The dancers must remain standing for the full 24 hours and go without sleep or caffeine.

    The junior high students? dance marathon will last approximately three hours, said Meyer. Like their university counterparts, the students also raise money for the Children?s Hospital. Meyer said that some students from the mini-dance marathons are invited to the university?s dance marathon in February.

    ?Dance Marathon is a very powerful and moving event,? said Meyer. ?It was great for the students to see where their money goes.?

To read the full article, see the Dec. 1 edition of the Washington Evening Journal.