Mini-THON

Guin Schipper, Features Editor

Mini-THON is a club at Urbana High School and many other schools that partners with the Four Diamonds Organization in Hershey Pennsylvania. This club is in its fourth year. Stephen Ward and Matthew Ferrante are the club’s advisors. Last year they raised $50,000, and in three years they have raised $100,000 towards pediatric cancer. This is a huge accomplishment. There are 265 schools in eight different states participating in Mini-THON. Penn State College of Medicine conducts cancer research by learning about how cancer forms and how to reprogram or destroy cancer cells. The Four Diamonds support Penn State in their research. Penn State also has a children’s hospital and medical center built from a donation of $50 million by the M.S. Hershey Foundation.

Jean Paul Scarbrough is the executive director of Mini-THON. He has been a part of Mini-THON since his freshman year. “Most of my family has been effected by cancer… So when I came to Urbana when I was a freshman, I was really excited to see that we had the Mini-THON. And then every year I’ve been a part of it, just doing a little bit more and more. So when I finally became a senior and was able to interview for the Executive Director position, I just felt like that’s where I could fit in and help out and make the difference to Mini-THON and make it better and help more people.” Scarbrough said. Last year, he was expecting to raise $50,000 and it was not a surprise to him when they accomplished their goal.

This year Mini-THON hopes to get a lot more student participation and raise more awareness about pediatric cancer. They also hope to raise $51,000 this year. This year’s Mini-THON carwash went very well.

Justin Mittereder is the Director of Public Relations, and he hopes that Mini-THON will continue next year. He has also been a part of Mini-THON since his freshman year, when Mini-THON started at UHS. Mittereder likes being the Director of Public Relations because he enjoys talking to the students. Mini-THON’s annual Color-Run is one of their most successful fundraising activities because the students enjoy it so much. Mittereder believes that the planning for this year’s carwash went very well. The amount of students in Mini-THON has continued to increase every year, and they hope that will continue to be the case. Mittereder hopes to keep the momentum up from previous events.

Brendan Kelly is the Director of Operations at Mini-THON. Half of the jobs at Mini-THON are run by relations, and the other half is run by operations. He hopes to have as much student participation as possible. In this year’s club there are over 400 kids signed up. Kelly had the most fun at the Key’s Night where they had a baseball game with the Keys. They were able to sell tickets and raise money during this and were able to watch a baseball game. “This year’s carwash was awesome. Well first of all our sponsors were great, they gave us a lot of donations. And we just had a ton of people show up. We raised about $250 more than last year. Which when you’re talking about raising money a few hundred dollars is a lot. We raised $1,263, I believe, and last year we only hit about 1k.” Kelly said.

The Color Run takes place on December 9. One of this year’s goals is to have 300 people in the Color Run. Last year their goal was about 250 people in the Color Run. Next Thursday on October 19 they will be having YoBubble night. This night is being heavily advertised and should have lots of participation.