Dance Marathon at Appalachian State University was launched in Fall 2003. With nearly 75 dancers, the first year yielded nearly $8,000 for local community agencies. Over the next 6 years combined, Dance Marathon would pump over $75,000 into these important organizations who work to better the lives of Watauga County youth & families! This annual event has been student led since inception, and two community agencies (Western Youth Network & Parent to Parent Family Support Network of the High Country) have remained involved from the beginning.

Over the years, a few items have been tweaked to keep the event fresh & continually improve our goals: community agencies were narrowed in 2004; Dance Marathon had direct Homecoming team involvement in 2005/2006, including field trips to the football game & dancing during half-time; Dance Marathon 2007 shifted to later in the school year, meaning a break from Homecoming involvement and the beginning of individual dancer participation, and 24-hour Morale Captains were introduced. A few hallmarks, though, have been in place from the

beginning: an appearance by kids from Western Youth Network and a family story from Parent to Parent; the famous annual "line dance"; the video dance in the middle of the night; outside performing groups coming to boost morale & entertain the dancers; and the priority placed on raising money & getting involved with these local community organizations.