Battlefield takes on Mini-Thon

The childhood cancer fundraiser that rocked BHS

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Students sing “Sweet Caroline” at ending ceremony (Photo courtesy of Rebecca Cutsinger)

 

The student Activities Leadership Course (SALC) had been fundraising since the Fall through an organization called Four Diamonds for childhood cancer research and financial support. All the hard work came to a climatic end last Friday night as Battlefield hosted Mini-THON, the overnight celebration for the $41,734.54 raised throughout year that will directly affect children battling cancer.

Mini-THON’s attendees consisted of Dancers, or participants from the school coming to support the cause and join in the festivities, the SALC team members from many different subcommittees all in charge of different things, as well as adult supervisors and chaperones. Spectators were also welcome to sit in the bleachers and watch the fun and games, however, spectators were required to leave at midnight. The rest of the attendants stayed on their feet from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. all after a long day of school. This -no sitting- aspect of Mini-THON was the students’ salute to the struggle that kids affected by childhood cancer face everyday, fighting for their lives.

Mini-THON attendants played endless games all through the night, danced, sang, did a choreographed lined dances every hour on the hour, ate, partied, and all had a blast. Games included hungry-hungry-hippos (students on flat scooters being pushed by their teammates, while trying to capture balloons in laundry baskets), a shoe centered relay race where all dancers had to take off their shoes and place them in the middle of the floor, and then compete to see which team could get all team members to find their shoes in the pile and put them back on, one at a time. Teams were judged on how effectively they could duct-tape teachers to the wall, through pies in eachothers’ faces, and stick cheese puffs to their face with whip cream. There was a wing eating contest, oreo cookie licking contest, riff-off (Pitch Perfect style),and freestyle dance off.

Food provided for the night was either donated by local businesses or bought by the nurishment team. All attendants to Mini-THON were fed dinner at midnight and breakfast at 5 a.m., with snacks and drinks provided in between.

All dancers were part of a color team; red, green, yellow, or royal blue. As the night went on the winner of each game earned their team points and at the end of the night, Red team had the most points winning the overall competition for Mini-THON Color Wars. Green team came in second, followed by blue team with third, and yellow team took fourth.

SALC team members also wore colors to distinguish each of the subcommittees. Fundraising wore maroon shirts, Public Relations wore orange, Hospitality wore pink, the overall head chairs wore light blue, security wore black, Nourishment wore dark gray, Film/Tech wore light gray, and Event Coordination wore navy blue.

Overall, the event went off without a hitch and everyone had a blast. By the end time at 8 a.m., everyone was exhausted but so proud of the final total going directly to cancer research as well as alleviating medical bills families face while battling childhood cancer. Mini-THON really showed what Battlefield high school can do, and the change our students can make in issues bigger than all of us. Our participants stayed upbeat and ready for the next activity the entire night displaying the strength and spirit of not only the event itself but the strength of children fighting for their lives.

Watch the video for the whole experience! HERE