THE
Clarion
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www.brevard.edu/clarion
Volume 76, Issue 19 Web Edition SERVING BREVARD COLLEGE SINCE 1935 Feb. 18, 2011
Dance marathon gives lifetime of memories
By Jermichael Tanner
Staff Writer
Nearly 100 people danced, ate, and played
games throughout the night in the auxiliary gym
of Boshamer gymnasium on Saturday as part of
the BC Dance Marathon.
The Dance Marathon, which was a far
stretched dream of Dean of Students Chris
Holland, was put into action as the senior IWIL
project of Katherine Parnell, a theatre education
major, with a lot of help and a little luck.
Chris Holland mentioned the plan of having
a Dance Marathon at BC to a selective group
of staff members two years ago, but was
unable to follow through with it because of
prior engagements. When Parnell heard of this
plan two years later, she decided that the Dance
Marathon was what she wanted to do as a senior
project for the IWIL program here on campus.
After it was established that this project
would take place, Megan Walters, Director of
Student Involvement, had lunch with an old
friend from college who just so happened to
be a former producer for the show “Too Fat for
15”; Walters told her of the idea Parnell had,
and that’s where the idea of the marathon being
televised came from.
The producers of “Too Fat for 15” got word
of the idea of a Dance Marathon and thought
it would be great for the ten qualified campers
from the Wellspring Academy to attend as a way
to have fun and exercise at the same time.
“I never knew Zumba would give me such a
workout, but be enjoyable at the same time,”
freshman linebacker Donovan Barker said.
Penn State University conducted the first
Dance Marathon, which was a 48 hour event, in
1973 in order to raise funds to combat children’s
cancer More schools have since then joined
the tradition, including Appalachian State
University and UNC Chapel Hill.
All of the schools that participate raise
thousands of dollars each year to put
towards helping various charities and local
organizations.
Because of the size of Brevard College
compared to that of the bigger universities
participating in this tradition, we chose to
collect entry fees, donated canned goods, and
clothes to give back to local organizations. “We
collected about 214 canned goods, 40 bags of
clothes, and had about half of the people that
were there at the beginning of the night stay for
all 13 hours,” said Jessica Blanford, Director of
Service Initiatives.
“We want this to become a tradition, involving
all groups of students each year,” Blanford said.
Freshman safety Anthony Shakir said, “The
Dance Marathon was a great way to interact
with new people.” Maybe in the future more
students can come interact.
All the festivities of the night were recorded
and will be aired on the show “Too Fat for 15”
as part of the third season, beginning in the fall
of2011.
In this issue...
Campus News:
NSSE on campus 2
Feature photo: Tyson speaks at BC... 2
News:
Flu spreads on campus 3
Student art show opens 3
BC prof to teach in London 3
Opinion:
The problem with Christianity 4
Devil's Advocate 5
Sesquipedalian word of the week 5
Sports:
BC hosts Pink Zone Day 6
Arts & Life
Grammy recap 7
Chef Boy-ar-Dave 7
Odds and Ends:
Crossword 8
Correction from last week 8
Students dance in sync during tlie 13 liour Dance IVIaratlion. Students, faculty and campers from
tlie Wellspring Academy gathered for a night of dancing and other festivities. The event will be
televised on the TV show “Too Fat for 15” this fall.