After years of hosting Mini-THON at Southern Middle School, the local Four Diamonds Fund chapter held Mini-THON at Susquehannock High School on Friday, March 10.

Drawing inspiration from the original THON, which takes place at Penn State, the event at Susquehannock High School is a final celebration of the months of fundraising conducted by each member of Mini-THON.

Mini-THON participants spent the past several months raising money for childhood cancer research through asking community members for donations, finding sponsorships and canning at school sporting events.

When the day of Mini-THON finally arrived, students and staff packed into the gym to kickoff the event and tackled the challenge of not sitting down for six hours to symbolically “stand up” to cancer.

The six-hour-long event left no area of the high school’s first floor empty; games and activities took place in all corners of the school.

Mini-THON was such a large undertaking that students formed committees to assist the staff advisers in pulling off the event.

Sophomore Lily Stockbridge was a member of the Entertainment Committee

“I thought everything went really well, especially considering that it was the first Mini-THON we’ve had at the high school. Since I was on a committee, there was a lot of work that we did beforehand. Our students and staff worked really well together and even with members of the community to raise money for a good cause,” said Stockbridge.

The hub of activity during Mini-THON was the main gym; events and features in the gym included the opening ceremony, closing ceremony, a fully-equipped D.J. booth, the main stage, lasers, and a plethora of balloons.

Aside from the high-energy activity in the gym, other activities included corn hole, board games, basketball, and a room filled with puppies and ice cream for those who raised the most money for cancer research.

In attendance to the event was Southern Middle School student A.J. Bobby, who was diagnosed with leukemia at age seven, but, after receiving treatment, was able to overcome cancer and is currently in remission.

Senior Daylon Gohn participated in Mini-THON for the first time.

“To be completely honest, I didn’t think that many people were going to show up, but I was surprised with the turn out it had since that it was the first one that we are doing at the high school. I really hope Susky keeps having it and more and more students turn out each time,” said Gohn.

At the conclusion of Mini-THON, the student committee leaders gathered on the gym stage to announce the final amount of raised money:  $17,525.

For further information and future updates on next year’s Mini-THON, follow the Susquehannock Mini-THON’s Twitter Account.