Congratulations to GriffinTHON at Fontbonne University, recipients of the 2025 Ryan White Overcoming Adversity Award. 

Miracle Network Dance Marathon recognized top performing Dance Marathon programs at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ Ignite: Peer-to-Peer Leadership Conference held in Kansas City, MO from July 17-20, 2025. 

This Ryan White Overcoming Adversity Award celebrates the resilience, courage, and unwavering spirit of programs that continue to rise in the face of overwhelming challenges. GriffinTHON at Fontbonne University exemplified this spirit in its final year as a program. 

Earlier this year, the GriffinTHON team received the heartbreaking news that Fontbonne University would close. For many, this moment could have marked the end, but for the student leaders at GriffinTHON, it became a call to honor the legacy they had built over the past decade. Rather than slowing down, the team shifted their focus. They recognized that while the future of their university was uncertain, the impact they had made—and could still make—was worth celebrating.  

With many leaders graduating or transferring after the fall semester, a small but mighty team remained to carry out the spring event. These students took on the responsibility of planning GriffinTHON’s final event. They reflected on ten years of miracles and committed to creating one last experience that would honor every participant, donor, and miracle child who had shaped their community. 

GriffinTHON welcomed back past participants, inviting them to represent the “eras” of the program by wearing specially designed t-shirts reflecting the years they were involved. Through every choice they made, from the way they engaged alumni to the intentionality behind their final celebration, GriffinTHON showed the true heart of Dance Marathon. They reminded us all that adversity does not define us; our response to it does. 

GriffinTHON may have closed out their time on campus, but their impact will ripple far beyond those walls. They showed what it means to lead with purpose, to find joy in the hardest moments, and to create a lasting legacy rooted in compassion and courage. 

Congratulations, GriffinTHON at Fontbonne University. You are the embodiment of the Ryan White Overcoming Adversity Award. Though your campus may close, your story will always have a home in the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals family.