Mini-Thon at Bellwood-Antis high school is just one week away.
The Mini-Thon committee has been preparing for this event all year by hosting different fundraisers and events to raise money for the Four Diamonds, a group dedicated to helping children and families suffering from childhood cancer.
Jenna Norton, the president of the Mini-Thon committee stated, “the committee has put in a lot of time and effort trying to find the resources and help to get Mini-Thon started again. We included all of the schools in the fundraiser because we believe it is important to make it a district wide effort.”
Mini-Thon hasn’t held a live event at B-A since 2020, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, so this will be a new experience for all high schoolers.
The event begins during the school day and lasts into the night. It includes a number of activities.
The committee has put in a lot of time and effort trying to find the resources and help to get Mini-Thon started again.
— Jenna Norton
The THON committee’s goal for this year is $20,000.
To start off the night, students who bought a t-shirt will be released from classes at 1:20 for a kickoff event in the high school gym. Even if you did not buy a shirt, you can pay $10 to get out of class and enjoy this event. If you don’t get out of class, you will be stuck in a grueling study hall with no electronics in a high school room with no windows, according to THON advisor Mr. Hallahan.
Once the event starts, you can’t sit down; just like Penn State’s Thon, which recently raised almost $17 million. In total, students will be on their feet for around 8 hours. That’s not too bad compared to Thon where people are on their feet for 3 days.
2023-2024 goal: $20,000
2022-2023: DID NOT FUNDRAISE
2021-2022 total: $13,000*
2020-2021 total: $12,490
2019-2020 total: $43,107
2018-2019 total: $25,000*
2017-2018 total: $14,000*
2016-2017: $750 (under advisement of aevidum)
*approximated values
After the kickoff event, there will be many different games to play in the high school gym and in the media center.
In the gym, there will be different sports games such as a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, can jam, cornhole, spike ball, volleyball, dodgeball, etc.
The media center will be turned into a gaming center with different board games and video games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, etc.
There will be food and drinks in the cafeteria so students can stay hydrated while staying busy with all of these events.
Around 6 p.m., all students will transition to the middle school gym where the Mini-Thon dance will take place, and the reveal of the money will be later that night.
The Mini-Thon committee has been working super hard to make this happen, and everybody is pumped up that it is here already.
Since this is the first year with new students and a new advisor, they are still working out some kinks and are constantly looking for more ideas.
Although they have these struggles this year, they are confident that next year they will have a lot better idea of their time and resources.
“Mini-Thon is meant to be a fun day for the whole school community and we are able to give back to a bigger cause,” Mr. Hallahan said.
Since B-A began sponsoring Mini-THON events in 2017, the school has generated more than $100,000 for the Four Diamonds.
