Hello friend!!! My name is Heidi Schaetzl and I’m a junior studying math elementary education. I hope to someday start a Dance Marathon program in the school where I teach, and someday to be a teacher in a children’s hospital for the kids who are there long term. I will drag every person I can into the wonderful world of Dance Marathon. No lie. Half my wardrobe is DM apparel and the half of the remaining clothes are ones I paint in, of course, for DM.
I came into Dance Marathon by chance. A friend dragged me to the involvement fair and subsequently to the committee meeting following. And I fell in love. There is something inherently good about people who will willingly stand for hours on end for people they may not even know. I was determined to surround myself with as many of these people as possible.
My first year was spectacular. Deprived of sleep because of finishing the decorations that week, I had four close friends with me at the marathon. I was a proud member of the trash committee and I was determined to take out every trash can before they overflowed. I was so focused on not falling asleep and doing my job that I didn’t get to spend time with the kids until the very end. After the big reveal, I found Emerald. As one of the older miracle children, she knew exactly how much hope we were bringing to kids like her. She and I sat together as people streamed around us and we cried and hugged and cried some more. That was my first God moment relating to Dance Marathon, and I vowed it wouldn’t be my last.
If my first year was spectacular, my second year was magical. I took initiative in my committee and built things all by myself. I made more friends, both on my committee and on other ones, and made an effort to fundraise more. I stayed up late again the week of the marathon working on decorations, but those nights are some of my favorite memories of Dance Marathon, because I got to spend it with my committee leaders who have now graduated. During my time at the
Lucky for me, I received a place on the leadership committee to lead the