Lehigh University hosted its second annual Dance Marathon Nov. 8, raising $54,243.37 for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dance Marathon is a nationwide cause that is hosted to raise money for a Children's Miracle Health Network that's closest to the college participating. Students and members of the Lehigh University community registered as a dancer for the event, and stayed standing for the whole eight hours that the event took place.

There was a morale dance that was eight minutes long and all participants learned, and a new section of the dance was taught each hour. The dancers ask for donations that go to the cause, and attendees can also donate or purchase various items at the event and the proceeds go to the hospital. Nine hundred students registered this year.

Miracle Kids attended the event, and they are children whose lives have been saved by the hospital. At the event, they participated in the dancing and activities, but they also shared their stories and spoke at each hour's "Connection to the Cause," a time each hour when attendees are reminded why they are dancing. Throughout the year, the members of Dance Marathon send videos and newsletters to the Miracle Kids and their families to keep in touch.

"The event is also all about making them feel special, and we love that they have joined us each year," said Jessica Scott, the public relations chair for Dance Marathon.

Scott said Whitney Lai, the family relations chair, had costumes for each child so they were able to dress up as their favorite character or actress, and attendees were prepped to play along so the children felt as though they were the character. The children were also given missions to complete throughout the night, making it an interactive experience and allowing them to connect with Lehigh.

"My favorite thing about Dance Marathon is seeing all the children and how strong they are," said sophomore Naiya Patel. "Despite all the hardships they find a reason to smile. They're inspirations to our entire community."

Each hour was sponsored by a different Lehigh club or organization that ran various activities during that hour, such as freeze dance or zumba. Clubs and organizations could also get involved by donating money or hosting an activity table at the event such as brownie decorating or face painting.

At the end of the evening, members of Dance Marathon went on stage, stood in a line, and flipped over huge cards that each had one number on it. Once flipped over, the cards revealed how much money was raised overall.

"Going into the night we had already fundraised so much, so it was truly about bringing Lehigh together to celebrate and have fun as a unified campus," Scott said. "Whatever numbers had been flipped during the reveal, we did our best to support Children's Hospital of Philadelphia."

Lehigh's Dance Marathon was founded by Alex Stephanou and Katie Walters last year, making Lehigh one of the first schools to raise money for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Last year, Dance Marathon raised close to $40,000, and this year they hoped to raise $50,000, and beat that number by over $4,000.

Scott said one of the Miracle Kids' parents told a member of Dance Marathon that her son was looking forward to coming back to the event this year and he was ecstatic to be invited back.

"I am overjoyed we surpassed our goal of $50,000 but am equally as happy having seen everyone learn the morale dance and perform together as a campus," Scott said.