The Lion’s Roar / Jonathan Rhodes

Phi Mu members Brittany Puma, Rachel McCrory and Sidney Kent (above) learn the Morale Dance choreographed by Phi Mu member Lauren Snowdy. At Roarathon, the university’s first ever Dance Marathon, Phi Mu members and other organizational members participating in the event (top, danced for six hours. All proceeds went to Phi Mu’s national philanthropy, Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.  Throughout the day, participants were given the chance to compete in various games, such as a Lip Sync Battle and Ships and Sailors. Also, a past CMNH patient attended the event.

Phi Mu held the university’s first ever six-hour dance marathon this past Sunday. 

The proceeds for this dance marathon went to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, which increases funds and awareness of children’s hospitals. Phi Mu raised $6,284 from the event.

“All of our members are really active participants in our philanthropy events,” said junior communication major Anna Rudesill. “We always love to participate and help the kids.”

Other schools in Louisiana and around the country host dance marathons to show support to CMNH. A few Louisiana State University students were at the event participating in the marathon showing off their dance routine from their own marathon held at LSU.

“This is actually a nation wide event,” said coordinator for the event Madison Chauvin. “We are the tenth school in Louisiana to start one up. CMNH has been wanting to bring the event to Southeastern because how involved we are usually with the organization and how Phi Mu is involved with CMNH. They contacted one of our girls who was very involved and she got the ball rolling, then I took over and we got to today. This is a Southeastern event, not a Phi Mu event.”

The dancing for the event was mostly choreographed by some of the Phi Mu members. There was freestyle and even lip-syncing near the end of the event.

“Some of the dances was stuff our chapter has done in the past and the rest is just stuff I thought would be fun for everyone else,” said senior psychology major Lauren Snowdy. “Everybody seemed to really enjoy it and it seemed pretty easy to pick up.”

In between dancing, games such as Twister were played. Also, short videos were shown of patients who were helped by CMNH. 

A Phi Mu member and former CMNH patient spoke at the raorathon.

“It is really surreal to be on both ends of it,” said sophomore nursing major Taylor Mangus. “Having been a patient, having received the kindness, the energy, the effort, the time and everybody’s love and support; it makes me that much more driven and passionate about returning the favor and giving back to our community when I can.”

Phi Mu wants to make this a recurring event for The University in the future.

“We are thinking about making this an annual thing like our annual dodgeball tournament,” said Rudesill.

To find out more about CMNH, visit their website.