Celebrating wishes and supporting a worthy cause were the goals of this year’s UNT Eaglethon, which raised $30,117 for Cook Children’s Creative Artist in Residence Programme (CARPE) through a 10-hour-long event with games and dancing.

Since 2014, the UNT Center for Leadership and Service has sponsored Eaglethon, a year-long fundraising program that ends with a main event featuring 10 hours of dancing and activities to celebrate the children helped by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. UNT’s event is part of the Miracle Network Dance Marathon movement that unites college, university and high school students across North America. Students involved in a campus’ dance marathon organization spend a year gaining leadership, teamwork and nonprofit business experience while raising funds and awareness for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Miracle Network Dance Marathon has raised more than $250 million since 1991.

Live entertainment and a DJ help pass the time, along with performances by local musicians and university dancing and performing groups. There is even a morale dance that is taught to participants throughout the first few hours and which everyone performs together in the tenth hour. Many children and families also give speeches about their struggles and the successes they have found because of the amazing hospital services, illustrating the true purpose of the event.

For the event, students register to participate as individuals or as a teams and proceed to raise funds throughout the year and during the Eaglethon event itself.

The funds raised by Eaglethon will be used for Cook Children’s Creative Artist in Residence Programme (CARPE), which offers opportunities for expression and control through a variety of artistic media. Through painting, music, writing, dance, theater and other artistic exploration, patients and families at Cook Children’s connect the creative arts with the art of healing.

View more photos from the event here.

For more information on the Center for Leadership and Service, visit https://studentaffairs.unt.edu/center-for-leadership-and-service.

Visit DSA News for the latest happenings and successes in the Division of Student Affairs.
Contact: Ray Willhoft, 940-565-2464, raymond.willhoft@unt.edu