By Kayli McGlynn
Staff Writer

Many people have heard of Penn State’s THON, where students raise money for the Four Diamonds Fund by dancing for 46 hours straight—no sitting or sleeping allowed. This year Neshaminy’s National Honor Society had plans to create a “mini-THON,” where people would be able to fulfill their dream of participating in THON, but on a smaller scale, all while helping raise money for children with pediatric cancer. The school was ready for the challenge, but the plan came to a screeching halt.

All of the proceeds were to go to the Four Diamonds Fund, which helps families who have children with pediatric cancer. There were to be four different teams, all a different color, competing against each other to raise the most money.

The teams were meant to be different sets of knights, since Christopher Millard, the child whose parents set up this foundation after losing him to pediatric cancer, had created a story about a knight named Sir Millard who had to fight for the four diamonds of Courage, Wisdom, Honesty, and Strength. If he succeeded he would be free from the evil sorceress. Millard’s story showed what he believed could defeat cancer, so his parents named the fund after his story.

“THON was cancelled because the administrators were concerned about the scope of the event in a short period of time and they were concerned about having appropriate coverage from the staff,” National Honor Society Adviser Kim Kelley said.

The charity event was originally supposed to be held in early January, but got pushed back due to scheduling conflict with the gym. Until recently, most of the National Honor Society believed mini-THON was just postponed, not cancelled. All of the National Honor
Society was prepared to take on the task and sadly they will not be able to do that anymore.

“We pushed it back from January because we needed more time to do it right, however, we could have accomplished it this year,” Kelley said.

The National Honor Society has some of the top students in the school and there is no doubt that they could have accomplished this task in the time allotted. The Honor Society students were already put into various planning committees. These are not students that do things half-heartedly.

“Something like that requires a lot of planning and a lot of work,” said Caroline Crasnick, Neshaminy Graduate and Penn State freshman.

They had the ambition to attempt this large-scale event and it took courage and dedication to get it off the ground. Even getting it as far as it came was hard work. This event coming together would have been an excellent display of students’ ambition and drive.

“I was so excited to start something different for our school and to get involved with a charity that is so amazing,” said senior Jessica Vadaketh. Vadaketh was one of the leaders in bringing Mini-THON to Neshaminy.

“It could have definitely been possible,” National Honor Society Vice-President Jane Miglo said. “We just needed more support.”

Along with National Honor Society, Neshaminy’s Interact Club was involved with organizing THON, adding another event to the long list of good deeds that they accomplish throughout the year.

Not only would hosting Mini-THON be beneficial to the children the money would go to, but it would be beneficial to Neshaminy as a whole. The charity event would have brought the community together to accomplish something worthwhile. Neshaminy tries to raise money, but nothing has ever been attempted on this scale.

Even if things did not go perfectly smooth, it would have still been a great accomplishment. Students would be having fun and raising money for charity.

“Penn State and the Four Diamonds Fund appreciate the support, no matter where it comes from,” Crasnick said.

The Four Diamonds Fund solely helps the families at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital in Hershey, Pa. Together with THON they have raised over $101 million. To be a part of that is something that Neshaminy should try to do in the future, since it could not happen this year.

Four Diamonds is an amazing fund and it is a shame that Neshaminy will not be able to participate in the wonderful services that they provide. Hopefully in the future the National Honor Society can try again at brining Mini-THON to our community.