Students and faculty filled room 228 of the Miron Student Center (MSC) to fundraise and raise awareness for the upcoming Kean Dance Marathon (KDM) in April, as the Kean Dance Marathon Hype Day commenced on Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. From noon to 8 p.m., multiple student organizations hosted tables and games for incoming students to donate to the good cause of the Children's Specialized Hospital of New Jersey, the primary sponsor for Kean University's annual dance festival.
The event served as a chance for students and faculty to get excited for the upcoming KDM Kickoff set to take place on the afternoon of Wednesday, Oct. 28, which will have music, food and fun for students to have as they walk through the MSC Atrium.
As students visited the second floor of the MSC, attendees were properly greeted and checked in and encountered a room of fun. Stephanie Cardenas and Aurelia Alberto, two of the many coordinators of the event, were quite passionate about informing students of the day's festivities and what it means to the overall effort of the dance marathon later in April.
"We start fundraising really early because we want to get people ready to go and let them know that fundraising season has begun," said Alberto, a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and senior majoring in public relations and minoring in marketing. "Hype day is today, and we are hyping [the Kean Dance Marathon] up."
Cardenas, a senior majoring in biology with a minor in health, spoke on the positive impact that the hype day made on the students and faculty.
"What we are doing today is raising awareness for KDM and the Children's Specialized Hospital to get donations while having people come out and get excited for the festival in April, so that they can raise money for a great cause," said the senior, who was also a member of Omega Sigma Psi, a sorority participating sorority in this year's hype day.
In the effort to fight childhood illness and promote youthful wellness, Greek and other student organizations as well as sports teams added to the hype of the afternoon by creating their own games and prizes using their imaginative abilities. The sorority Sigma Beta Chi featured a cardboard ring toss game with a small donation jar, so that the players who walked up to the game would not only have a good time participating but would be able to give back to the kids who needed it.
Other creative games, such as a coin toss into a fishbowl helped raise money for the Dance Marathon's prelude. Round tables filled the room, with child-esque designs that ranged from finger and hand-painting stations to paper card making tables as a tribute for the children that the Hype Day was fundraising for.
"The cardboard ring toss game that we set up was made for our sorority to interact with the students that come in, and it is a great experience to meet all of the students that want to fundraise and are also interested in Greek life," said Jennifer Abreu, a member of the Sigma Beta Chi sorority and a senior majoring in communication studies. A couple of new faces are always nice to see, and it is always nice to meet new students who are willing to donate to a good cause."
Over 20 student organizations visited room 228 throughout the day and participate in the festival of charity. Different Greek organizations and other student groups added their efforts to the day by also creating various games and displays that attracted students during this experience. A primary coordinator of this event, Vanessa Lupo, a senior biology major and a member of the Theta Phi Alpha sorority, accredited the event's success to the positive attitude that students show to KDM every year.
"Though this is something different than what we have done in the past, I think that everyone loved today because of the feedback that we received from the students. Students and faculty were very involved and the donations were very good today," Lupo said. "The event started with a lot of people early and although more people did not come until about 5:30, it got more exciting as people came then.
Additionally, computers were used to sign different student organizations up for the dance festival in April if they were not previously signed up for the event. As more groups registered, an awareness and excitement for the April festivities grew. Other Greek organizations, such as Sigma Beta Tau and Sigma Theta Chi had different members of their fraternities volunteer and support the cause by playing the many games and learning what their donations go to.
"I think this is a good start for the actual event to let people know what is going on so they can get a heads up. We love to do stuff for the children in general, especially giving back," said Andre K. Page, a brother of Sigma Beta Tau and a junior majoring in marketing. "KDM is getting better each and every year, and we try to donate to the cause whenever we can."
Surely, the Kean community was able to give their time and efforts to a great cause and in turn gain the awareness for the annual campus-wide dance festival during the upcoming spring semester. For more information on the upcoming KDM Kickoff sponsored by the Kean University Greek Senate, visit the event's official Cougar Link site on their page under the events tab.
