STATE COLLEGE, Pa (WJAC) — Penn State students are less than 24 hours away from a THON like never before.
Dance relations captains with THON say they had to get creative this year to try and keep everyone engaged through their computer screens, but it's a task they are ready to take on.
Thousands of students are usually piling into the Bryce Jordan Center this weekend for the largest student run philanthropy in the world.
"We will not all be together, which is a little unfortunate because we've worked so hard, but I think we will all enjoy the livestream,” said Dance Relations Captain Alison Wanamaker.
For the first time ever, the 46-hour dance marathon will be completely virtual, and the challenge is keeping participants engaged.
"We've created new incentives, such as the dancer Olympics and dancer pageant, that some of my co-captains worked on, where dancers have an opportunity to kind of show their talent. Usually, THON weekend is them watching talent, but this year were really trying to incorporate them more into THON and showcasing what they can do,” Wanamaker added.
Organizers say they are utilizing new virtual features for dancers to help keep energies high.
"The technology committee and some others worked on a dancer website to kind of showcase families and to have all of these activities in one central location which has never been done before, so it's a great way for dancers to hop on the internet and find task to do."
There are 24 dancer relations captains, who are usually behind the line dance, which gets all 650 dancers on their feet at the BJC, but this year, it's been a complete secret.
"Due to people being able to take videos on their phones and videoing without us knowing, this is actually going to be the first THON where the line dance is going to be showcased for the first time ever this weekend, which is kind of cool because it is like a big secret this year."
Virtual THON kicks off Friday at 6 p.m. on their website: thon.org.
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