USU Miracle Club at Utah State University Receives 2024 Best New Dance Marathon 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 18-21.  

Congratulations to USU Miracle Club at Utah State University for winning the 2024 Best New Dance Marathon award! As a new organization on campus, the founding members worked to build program traditions that aligned with their campus culture – ensuring that their events were appealing to their student population. With an events-based and active student population they planned events such as a “pumpkin smash” working with a local farmer to get pumpkins donated towards the end of the fall season. The pumpkins were decorated with dreaded things on campus that would inspire participants to smash the pumpkins such as “Campus Parking” and “Math 1220” – a notoriously hard class. Students could then donate to use a variety of tools including a golf club, frying pan, kettlebell to smash the pumpkin. Planning this right before fall semester finals made it an appealing way for students to get out some of their end-of-year stress.  

To attract participants in their first year, they focused on collaborating with student groups and building mutually beneficial relationships. Through time-based registration goals, they inspired timely action giving them the opportunity to work with their teams to build recruitment goals, providing incentives like an invitation to a bubble soccer party for teams who hit the identified goals.  

As a new group on campus, they also ensured they were building a good internal culture. With an emphasis on building relationships and making the committee a friendly environment, they made sure to plan times to eat together after meetings, start meetings with some fun and include dance breaks! They also made sure that meeting agendas were intentionally designed to create a balance of support and trust while inspiring members to thrive in their positions.  

These efforts helped USU Miracle Club raise $16,020.00 for Primary Children’s Hospital in their first year! Congratulations, USU Miracle Club! 

Miracle Network Dance Marathon is a national movement, involving over 400 colleges, universities and K-12 schools across the United States that fundraise for their local member hospital of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Students involved in a campus’s dance marathon organization spend a year gaining leadership, teamwork, and nonprofit business experience while raising funds and awareness for their local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. The year culminates with a final dance marathon event on each campus, where students get to meet patient families treated at their local hospital, participate in games and dancing, enjoy entertainment, and reveal their annual fundraising total. Miracle Network Dance Marathon programs have collectively raised more than $350 million since 1991.