BuckeyeThon 2008 is 14 Hours of FUN!

I'm your host, Megan Riffee, welcome to my perspective of BuckeyeThon 2008 ... a Party with a Purpose! I will start with a little BuckeyeThon history. In the year 2000, student Rosa Ailabouni was encouraged to give back to her community. Her goal was to have an annual event that was fun and would benefit the local Children's Hospital. Inspired by many other universities' dance marathons, on February 1^st 2002, The Ohio State University held its first 14-hour dance marathon, BuckeyeThon. Seven years later BuckeyeThon is still a huge success. This year the event was held at the RPAC on February 16^th-17^th. As a member of the steering committee I can tell you first-hand that we were all ecstatic about the enormous attendance increase at this years' event. BuckeyeThon 2008 had over six hundred and fifty dancers signup and as a large group, raised more than $50,000!! Get excited, because BuckeyeThon 2009 is promised to be an even larger success!

11:59am 2/16/08

The stage is set for BuckeyeThon 2008 and The Dance Doctors are ready for the 650 registered BuckeyeThon dancers!!

Welcome BT Alumni

We love our BuckeyeThon Alumni!! They continue to put in their time and help contribute to the wonderful cause that BuckeyeThon is!

Let the Fun Begin!

Every year the dancers run into the gym as they prepare for the 14 hours to begin! Here the yellow team gets the crowd pumped as they celebrate their team pride!

Toss Me an Orange

The Orange Team gets psyched for the dance marathon to really begin!

Gorilla my Dreams!

Go blue team go!

Opening Ceremonies

Jenny, Sean and the rest of the BuckeyeThon 2008 Steering Committee get the dancers excited for a very intense 14 hours of dancing and fun!!

Jump on it!

One of the best things about BuckeyeThon is the “Morale Dance”. Each year the Morale Chair on the Steering Committee and their Morale Captains create a several-minute long dance that they teach to the dancers throughout the 14 hours. By the end of the night, everyone knows the whole thing!

Our BT All-Star

Kay introduces Dallas, our BuckeyeThon All-Star. Dallas has been to every BuckeyeThon! He is well known throughout the BuckeyeThon community for being an active dancer and lover of great music!

Shake it, Brutus!

Brutus and the cheerleaders make a guest appearance. They spend time with the children from Nationwide Children’s Hospital by dancing and have a good time!

The Cornhole Dance

BuckeyeThon is 14 hours full of dancing, music, GAMES

Meals and Snacks

…and FOOD!

Movers and Shakers

At the end of the night, the Steering Committee votes on “Most Spirited Female and Male Dancers”! To qualify the dancers must strut their stuff ALL 14 hours!

Plum Crazy Dancers

Another award given out at the end of the night is “Most Spirited Color Team”. This year that award was given to the Purple Team! Way to go!!

One More Time!

The Morale Captains and Steering join the rest of the dancers for the final Morale Dance!

The Reward

And for the final reveal…$50,128!!

THANK YOU!

I will leave you all with a HUGE thanks to all of the dancers, event volunteers, steering committee members, advisors, supporters and family members who helped make BuckeyeThon 2008 the BEST BuckeyeThon to date!