VOLthon held their 31st Dance Marathon where hundreds came together to help raise money for the newly renamed Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital. This year, $315,044.70 was raised toward the oncology and hematology department at the formerly named East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

The dance marathon was held in the student union for 12 hours. VOLthon President Ainsley McCurry, a senior special education major, went into more detail about this year’s dance marathon.

“It is a 12-hour long event that mimics a nurses’ shift,” McCurry said. “We had over 700 UT students in attendance. We had 15 of our miracle kids that came.”

The dance marathon was filled with multiple activities throughout the day, including various speeches, the Morale line dance, service projects, a Miracle kid meet and greet, silent disco and much more.

The Morale line dance is an annual dance marathon tradition where the routine is taught in pieces throughout the day. McCurry also discussed the importance of the Morale line dance.

“Every dance marathon program, for the most part, has a Morale line dance,” McCurry said. “The Morale line dance is just really a fun way for our participants to get together. It is taught in pieces throughout the day, and then at the end of the day, we all come together to dance it one time.”

Another key part of the dance marathon was listening to speeches from the Miracle children and their families. Martha, the mother of VOLthon miracle kid Noah, explained what the dance marathon means to her and her family.

“We have been coming for the last four years,” Martha said. “Noah and his brothers absolutely love it. The dancing, the music and just how great all the people are with them.”

It was not just VOLthon that was involved with the dance marathon event. Several other UT organizations participated and donated towards raising money for Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital including Phi Mu, Delta Zeta, The Wellness Society, Women’s Club Soccer and Phi Chi Pre-Health society.

Isabella Sinis, a senior neuroscience major and member of Phi Mu, detailed her experience with VOLthon’s dance marathon.

“We are so dedicated to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital,” Sinis said. “This is the one day we can come together as a sorority and do a really good thing for the hospital. We do things to raise money, and we also get to see the miracle kids.”

VOLthon spends the whole year in preparation, fundraising and recruiting organizations to register for the dance marathon. McCurry shared the results from this year’s fundraising.

“We raised the highest number that we have ever had,” McCurry said. “This year was $315,044.70.”