Notre Dame High School students dance all night to aid cancer research

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Notre Dame High School senior Brooke Cicale is one of six students who for four consecutive years have given up a night of sleep to help children battling cancer.

Cicale, now 17, as a freshman in 2008, was part of the initial group of 80 peers participating in a 24-hour dance marathon in the school’s gymnasium.


That year $17,000 was raised for the Hershey Medical Center’s Four Diamonds Fund. The fund aids cancer research and offsets treatment costs and other expenses.

More than 300 students danced this year at the fourth annual Mini-Thon, which started 7:30 p.m. Friday and ended at 7:30 tonight. It raised $71,134.

“I’m extremely proud because I was one of the first 80 participating. I can say I was there from the beginning and I hope I made a difference,” she said. “We lean on each other literally and we lean on each other figuratively. You have to push yourself and say, ‘I can do this.’

Cheryl Fenton, the event’s organizer, attributed the growth to students who encourage others. Many teens, she said, went door-to-door to gather thousands of dollars.

“When eighth graders visit, that’s the first thing they talk about,” Fenton said. “They can’t wait to do it as freshman. For them, they are making a difference for people they don’t even know.”

This weekend, students on six teams competed to raise the most money. The reward for that is a school week in casual clothing rather than uniforms.


A prayer and a salute to veterans from the Hellertown Veterans of War color guard opened the Mini-Thon.

A disc jockey spun high-energy tunes all night, and dance instructors taught students Zumba, Irish step and tribal dances. Students also made Christmas cards for pediatric cancer patients.

Parents wrote letters of encouragement to their children and visited in support. The letters were dropped off by Santa Claus and read during the evening.


Parent Eileen Koehler, of Easton, said both her 14-year-old freshman daughter, Shannon, and 17-year-old senior son, Charlie, were rookies.

“To have this much of a turnout and for these teens to give up their weekend, it just shows the camaraderie and the type of children who attend this school,” she said.

Dean Fedrizzi, 16, a junior, said his participation the past three years gives him a sense of pride.

“The feeling is the greatest feeling in the world,” he said. “There’s nothing like it.”

Fenton proposed Mini-Thon at Notre Dame the year after her daughter, Sierra, 24, danced in the Penn State University's Thon. She hopes the event will leave a legacy at the school.

“As a teacher, I feel lucky,” she said. “Everyone wants to feel like they have left a mark, and this is my mark with these kids.”

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/bethlehem/index.ssf/2011/11/notre_dame_high_school_student_1.html