DANCE MARATHON

Montanathon 2022

BY LINDSAY LEE

I joined MSU Dance Marathon during my freshman year at Montana State. I have always loved to dance, so I knew I would enjoy being a part of this club. Initially, I was unaware the Dance Marathon was much more than just dancing. I quickly learned about Shodair and their incredible work for Montana youth struggling with mental illness and genetic disorders. Since its start, I have seen Montanathon grow from a passionate group of 10 people to over 500 students participating throughout our four years. I saw the organization start at the brainstorming stage and end with a highly organized and successful first event in 2019.

During the first year of COVID, Montanathon and so many organizations quickly lost traction at MSU and had to start from zero this year as we are returning to a “normal” state. I honestly never planned to lead MSU Dance Marathon, but with the skills and knowledge I learned from leaders in past events, I was confident in bringing the Montanathon back to campus. Our team shrank from 15 on the executive team (the event planning and coordinating teams) to 7 as we got closer to the event on February 27th, 2022. The executive team worked extremely hard to bring the best Dance Marathon event possible to MSU with the support of our CMN campus manager, Shelby Wells, and Shodair Foundation Representatives Keith Meyer and Adrienna Hines. The executive team was a small group of students who had never seen a Dance Marathon. I want to highlight the impact they made for Montanathon this year, despite their limited experience. To start, Lauren Kaiser-Jackson, the Event Operations chair, planned and organized all the details of the event. Julia Koplin, the Special Events and Fundraising chair, planned fundraising pushes throughout the year and planned other community engagement events. Logan Turner, the Participant Relations chair, wrote emails and other communications to Montanathon Participants. Kalten Hendrickson and Jaedyn Birchmier, the Partnership chairs, gathered donations from local businesses to give away at the event. Kaitlyn Frank, the Event Operations and Special Events committee member, assisted in all things event planning. Emmett Van Allen, the Internal Director, provided support across the entire organization.

Because of this incredible team, we planned and executed one of the first large events on campus since March 2020. We were able to share the mission of Shodair to over 100 students on February 27th and raise over $16,000 for the hospital’s “Hope Takes Flight” campaign. I’m so proud of this team for persevering through COVID, a small planning team, and planning this event practically from scratch.

As I transition out of my role as External Director, I hope to see Montanathon grow into a massive program. The Montana State University community is so generous and highly invested in the wellness of the sons and daughters of the state of Montana. I can’t wait to see what our new leaders do with this program and how much it grows in the coming years.

LINDSAY LEE AT MONTANATHON FEBRUARY 2022