The University of South Carolina Dance Marathon organization changes lives.
Volumes could be written about the work the university’s largest student-run philanthropic organization has done for the past 27 years and is still doing, but it all comes down to that sentence.
“People say, ‘This thing changed your life,’ and some people are exaggerating, but when I say that Dance Marathon changed the trajectory of my college experience, of my future, it completely has,” says Virginia Hartselle, a marketing major from the Atlanta area who is serving as one of this year’s Morale Team Captains.
USCDM raised $652,928 to support the Child Life Program at Columbia’s Prisma Health Children’s Hospital last year, and more than $9 million in the 27 years since the organization's founding. The long list of lives changed starts there.
The Child Life Program is dedicated to supporting children and their families during times the children need health care. The Child Life team works to reduce patients’ fears, anxieties and pain while encouraging an increased sense of comfort, security and safety even at the worst of times. For 27 years, USC Dance Marathon has provided a great deal of the funding that makes the mission possible.
Making an impact
The money is only the beginning. This year’s USCDM president, elementary education major Izzy Yoos, leads a team of more than 400 students who have worked year round to raise money and support the children and parents they call Miracle Families on a personal level.
“The most important thing is that we’re making an impact at the children’s hospital,” Yoos says. “I know there are so many people that hear Dance Marathon and they’re like, ‘Are they dancing? Are they running? Why are they at Strom for 14 hours?’ But you get to make an impact in so many local families’ lives. The main focus is making that impact in our community. If anyone’s interested in doing that, this is the place for you to be.”
On Feb. 21, all the work culminates with USCDM’s 14-hour Main Event. More than 1,000 students, known as heroes, will join the year-round team of 400-plus for a full day of interactive activities, performances and educational programming centered around the Miracle Families and celebrating the lives and stories of the families USCDM serves.
“We have our fundraising push days throughout the year, obviously, but we don’t even consider Main Event a final push. It really is a celebration of all the hard work that everyone’s put in and all the fundraising that they’ve already done and anything additional is just extra benefits,” says Margaret Lowery, vice president of communications for USCDM.
Building brighter days
Lowery is a public health major, perhaps surprising for the student leading communications, but the fit is perfect.
“This role has been very different and has allowed me to be very creative, which I don’t get a lot of in my biochem and physics classes,” she says.
Lowery’s “why” — her reason for dedicating so many hours to USC Dance Marathon — begins with her mother, who served years ago as campus advisor for the dance marathon program at Bowling Green State University.
"It’s really full circle for me because my mom has always been one of my biggest supporters. This year I got to come up with our campaign, which is ‘Building Brighter Days.’ The campaign for my mom’s first year was ‘A Challenge Today, A Brighter Tomorrow.’ The tie between the two is so cute.”
Lowery and her team of 21 have taken USCDM communications to new heights this year, and she has learned that a big part of her role as a leader is to manage compromise.
“Everyone has great ideas and compromise is needed because 20 people might have 18 different ideas. We cannot do all 18 of them, just not enough time,” she explains.
Her team has created more than 200 social media posts, communicating USCDM’s purpose to an external audience. She and her team have also organized a merchandise pop-up shop, filmed hype videos at locations including Williams-Brice Stadium and Colonial Life Arena, and much more. As Main Event approaches, they are focused on designing the decor for the big day and planning the communication
Changing lives on campus and off
The Miracle Families are the reason for it all. “Forever to Thee Kids” is the creed repeated at events and on merchandise.
Anthony Rousseau, vice president of finance, oversees the fundraising for this year’s USCDM team. He knows that every dollar counts, but never loses sight of the larger purpose.
“I volunteer in the emergency department at the children’s hospital. I go into the rooms, I play with the kids, I'll read them stories and stuff. And the funding for the books, the Legos, action figures, all of it comes right from us. It's pretty cool to see the direct impact on that,” he says.
That focus is never lost and the work never stops, even though the organization is constantly evolving. Main Event 2025 was on Feb. 22, the final event for seven of the eight members of the executive board. Those seniors immediately turned to passing the torch. Less than a month later, Yoos was chosen as the new president and began interviewing candidates for this year’s leadership roles.
“Since then, I've just been like, go, go, go. It has been nonstop,” she says.
More than 400 college students, spending as much time in many cases as they would at a full-time paid job, and they all do it simply to serve. There are no paid members of this team. Every penny raised goes to the cause.
“I volunteer in the emergency department at the children’s hospital. I go into the
rooms, I play with the kids, I'll read them stories and stuff. And the funding for
the books, the Legos, action figures, all of it comes right from us. It's pretty cool
to see the direct impact on that."
They have brightened some of the darkest days for countless children and families. Through the years, they have also found that all the giving, all the work, changes their own lives for the better.
“Freshman year, I had a really rough time. I had trouble making friends. I completely shut down and didn't really let anyone else come to me to try and be my friend,” Hartselle says. “Coming to Dance Marathon and being part of a group that accepts me for who I am has changed everything. I just found a community, and it's helped me build my confidence a lot more. I’m really grateful.”
“I've always known what a dance marathon was, but I didn't really understand what specifically we fundraised for at USC since each program is different,” Lowery says. “When I came to Carolina, I knew that I wanted to get involved, and my mom said I should look at dance marathon. My freshman year was a little rough being so far away from home (near Pittsburgh), but I knew coming back for sophomore year that I wanted to get more involved.”
Dance Marathon has been a part of life for Yoos since before she can remember. She was born with a rare condition that led to her spending a lot of her early life at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. The Child Life program there had a tremendous impact on her and her family, and motivated her to do the same for others.
For her too, giving has led to receiving in unexpected ways.
“There are so many unique opportunities with our organization that had I not joined, I would not have, period, like the close relationship we have with the Children's Hospital. We’re able to get off campus and see Columbia as a whole versus the zoomed in picture of campus. We do so much off campus as well that people don't really get to see. I think we're unique in that way that we kind of get to do both and get the best of both worlds.”
Learn more
To learn more about University of South Carolina Dance Marathon and to volunteer or donate to support the cause, visit the USC Dance Marathon website.