(Left) The WHS dance team joins in the Dance Marathon fun. (Right) Student organizers announce this year’s record-breaking fundraising total.
Dance Marathon Program Grows Into A Student Fundraising Tradition At WHS
By Julie Unger
Over the course of the last five years, the students at Wellington High School have raised $164,829 to help the Children’s Miracle Network through the Dance Marathon program. They started out slowly, raising $11,710.39 in 2013, the first year WHS participated in the program. They raised a bit more in 2014, bringing in $11,802.67, and raised the stakes further in 2015, bringing in an impressive $14,648.25. In 2016, the goal was set at $25,000. The school
surged through that goal, raising a record $42,223.52 and earning the recognition of raising the most money of any Florida high school, noted Student Government Association sponsor Melissa Varvarigos. In 2017, following the previous years’ expectation, the students not only achieved their goal of raising $50,000, they soared past it, raising an astounding $82,444.17, including $3,450.40 contributed by students at Wellington Landings Middle School. Dance Marathon started out as a college fundraiser through the University of Florida. They call the high school Dance Marathon events “mini marathons.” WHS now ranks as the No. 1 school in Florida, the No. 1 school in the southern United States, and the No. 5 school in the entire nation, Varvarigos said. And it wouldn’t be possible without the passion and drive that her students have displayed, with two students in particular, Sam Weingart and Jake Anders, rallying the students and acting as the driving force behind the growth of the Dance Marathon program at WHS. For the first three years, approximately 100 students attended the seven-hour event. Last year, the number doubled to 200, thanks to the efforts of Weingart. In 2017, there were 300 attendees, Varvarigos said. Weingart ran the event in 2016, and Anders took over in 2017. He will once again be running it in 2018, during his senior year. “This is an organization that I love,” said Weingart, now a student at UF. (Top left) Ashley Estrada and Alexa Kovi with “Miracle Children” Zander Wyant with Nathan Ferrell. (Bottom left) Dance Marathon participants Diego Vallecillo, Tiffany Portu, Erica Tornabene, Lizzy Odom, Jake Anders, Lea Schwartz, Aimee Kaufman, Devyn Burnes, Angel Turpin and Lauren Bordeaux. wellington the magazine | august 2017
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