With about 300 students in attendance and almost $8,000 raised for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, the 2017 Dance Marathon was the most successful Dance Marathon in West Delaware history.

The dance was held in the upper gym Jan. 14 from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.

At the dance, students participated in a lip sync battle, played Mario Kart, painted faces, and, of course, danced.

“The dance was fun because all my friends were there,” sophomore Caleb Kehrli said. “The DJ was awesome, and he played awesome songs to dance to.”

This year, the Dance Marathon Committee set a goal to raise $6,000.

“In November (the committee) started sitting down and planning things out, and from there we met every week to plan,” said Abby Osborne, the staff advisor for the Dance Marathon committee. “The planning for this event was very student led and everyone worked together. It was a really great collaborative effort.”  

The committee had less time to plan than previous years.  

“We thought the date was going to be later in the year like it was last year, but we had to do it earlier because of scheduling issues,” said Emma Kehrli, co chair of the committee. “We had a short time to fundraise, so it was kind of stressful getting everything to come together.”  

In order to reach the $6,000 goal, the committee sold t-shirts, held half-court shots at basketball games, worked a concession stand, led a penny war at the elementary, volunteered to work at Pizza Ranch, conducted a bake sale, and visited local businesses to ask for donations.

The most successful fundraiser was visiting local businesses, which brought in over $2,400.

“At first, going to businesses was hard because we didn’t know how to ask for money,” Collier said. “Once we started doing it though, it became fun to talk to the businesses in the community.”  

East Buchanan and Maquoketa Valley students also helped raise money for the dance by selling t-shirts and tickets at their schools and asking local businesses to donate.

“It was amazing how it all came together,” Osborne said.