More than 1,200 students signed up last week to participate in Northwestern’s 37th annual Dance Marathon this year, a record for the student-run organization, according to tentative registration numbers released Monday night.
Including committee members, about 1,500 total students will participate in the event, said DM leaders, although they stressed that they don’t have anywhere close to an exact number.
That’s an increase of at least 100 from last year. DM’s co-chairs attributed the rise in registrants partially a new online system, which allowed students to register and sign a liability waiver online. Last year, dancers could sign up online but were required to hand in the waiver in person.
“Our primary goal was to provide potential dancers with a more convenient and efficient registration method,” Ben Rothschild and Brad Lookabaugh, DM’s finance co-chairs said in a statement.
For DM, the online process saved time previously spent manually entering dancer registration data in spreadsheets, according to the statement.
DM Executive Co-chair Catrina Miksis, a McCormick senior, called the new system a “huge success.”
Group leaders also credited simple word of mouth.
“Every year we’ve seen increases in dancers,” said the other co-chair, Julie Sher, a Communication senior. “A lot of it is word of mouth. This campus really prides itself on DM.”
Students register for DM, a 30-hour nonstop dance, in pairs, agreeing to raise a minimum of $800 between them. A pair may register independently or as part of a team. In addition, about 350 students will serve on committees this year to help the event run smoothly.
This year’s event will take place March 4-6.
Given the high amount of minimum donation, an increase of even 100 students can have a substantial impact on the final fundraising total.
But historically, not all registrants participate in the event – last year, about 30 percent of students who registered did not participate in the marathon. There is no way to predict how many students who registered last week will participate in March, Miksis said.
“We hope every single person has the opportunity to raise the money and dance this year,” she said.
This year’s primary beneficiary is The Children’s Heart Foundation, which supports research and increases awareness about congenital heart defects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart defects are the most common birth defects in the U.S., affecting about 1 in every 100 to 200 babies.
Last year’s primary beneficiary, StandUp for Kids, received more than $450,000. DM’s secondary beneficiary will be the Evanston Community Foundation for the 14th year in a row. That organization received more than $50,000 from DM last year.
Despite the increase in student registrants this year, Miksis said DM “is not about how much money we raise.”
“It is about the awareness for the cause and the impact on the organization as a whole, the publicity that they garner, the interactions that our dancers and committee members have with the people involved with both beneficiaries,” she said.
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