When thinking about ways to make an impact to better our society, students at De Soto High School did just that. On April 29, 2021,  DHS Student Council held a dance marathon event, making a difference for a great cause. 

“The thing about a dance marathon is that it is a very big event that not just we came up with. It is kind of like Relay for Life,” Student Council Katie Meserko said.

During the dance marathon, which was held from 7 to 11 pm, there were multiple different activities students could participate in. 

“There are some key components that all dance marathons have. Some of the main things are an opening ceremony, getting to know what the organization is about. We had musical chairs, an obstacle course, dodgeball tournament and a tug of war,” Meserko said. 

Although this may sound like a typical event most schools hold, such as a field day or a fun day, there was a catch to this event. 

“Within that [the activities] you learn an eight-count of a dance. It has very simple steps and by the end you learn an entire routine,” Meserko said. 

After learning the entire dance routine, by the end of the night all attendees perform the dance, hence why it is called a dance marathon, and are eligible to win the “Best Dancer” award. 

While this dance was extremely entertaining to all in attendance, the idea around the event was tremendously heartfelt. 

“The whole premise of it is that you stand at the very beginning, and you’re not allowed to sit down the entire event because you’re standing for those who can’t,” Meserko said. 

In addition to being required to stand the entire event as representation for those who cannot, students usually also wear bracelets that are cut off in the finale of the event as symbolism to get kids out of the hospital, but because the event ran overtime, the bracelet cutting did not occur. 

Although the event ran overtime and was a last minute event, the dance marathon was very successful. 

“We had about 92 students in attendance on Thursday,” Meserko said. “We raised over $2,000 which was well beyond what we were expecting.” 

Since the event was so successful, it will be held in the future to a greater extent. 

“It’s supposed to be on a much larger scale. You’re supposed to do a fundraiser for the whole year and get your teams together from the beginning, so it’s a build up to the very end. The event itself will be pretty similar,” Meserko said. “COVID giving, it would be like food trucks and everyone has their own tents for their teams and it has a picture of a kid that you’re representing. We have ideas to extend it.” 

Even though this year’s dance marathon was a last minute and much smaller event, the message received left a lasting impact.