SLOW START DOES NOT STOP BUCKEYETHON FEVER
by Jeff Svoboda
The Ohio State Lantern
Monday February 9, 2004

The third annual BuckeyeThon dance marathon started at 11 a.m. Saturday with the screams of 110 excited dancers reverberating throughout a nearly empty Ohio Union. It ended with a scream 14 hours later when it was announced $36,042.06 had been raised for the Columbus Children's Hospital.

"How could you not be pleased with the amount?" said Aftab Pureval, co-director of the event. "It's $36,000 more than they had yesterday. I'm really proud of everyone."

Better than Ezra headlined the marathon. In addition to playing for the BuckeyeThon dancers and volunteers, free tickets were offered to OSU students and $10 tickets to non-students. Eleven hours into the event the band took the stage, playing to a crowd of about 800 people.

"Better than Ezra energized the crowd," Pureval said. "We did a good job of getting the message out."

President Karen A. Holbrook and her husband Jim attended the event, taking in 40 minutes of the Better than Ezra concert. Holbrook also took pictures with some participants.

"It's a fabulous event," Holbrook said. "It's loud in here, so it's been hard to interact with students, but I'm enjoying myself."

Undergraduate Student Government President Michael Goodman and Vice-President Frank Sasso also attended.

"This event showed that the administrators and student leaders support what the students do," Pureval said. "Because we're a young tradition, any support is welcome."

Brutus and the Buckeye Dance Force also made appearances.

There were various activities throughout the day to keep the dancers spirited. The entire day had a movie theme, with movies such as "Jumanji," "Varsity Blues" and "Dirty Dancing" showing on the big screen each hour. Event coordinators also planned dances and had competitions themed around each movie, splitting dancers into colored teams. One such competition involved dancers throwing footballs through hula hoops during "Varsity Blues."
"The movies are fun," said Meg Dillard, a freshman in business. "They're all classics. Every time one comes on, I'm like 'I love that movie.'"

Corey Hammer, a freshman in intergrated social studies, also enjoyed the films.

"The movie theme was very creative," he said. "It was obvious that they put a lot of effort into it."

Lee Cayayan, a junior in medical technology and one of the morale leaders that kept dancers on their feet, said the themes and activities kept everyone having a good time.

"Better than Ezra was a nice change of pace," Cayayan said. "We did a lot of things with the themes to make sure nobody really got bored."

Reminders that the event was for the children were never far away. Organizers held a silent auction featuring items signed by football coach Jim Tressel and gift packages like a night at the Blackwell Hotel, with proceeds going to the hospital. Throughout the day, dancers wrote spirited messages with fabric paint on felt squares that will be delivered to the children.

"The dancers enjoyed themselves because they worked on behalf of someone else," Pureval said. "There's nothing more fulfilling than that."

Even at the end of the night, the dancers were full of excitement. As the playing of Don McLean's "American Pie" signaled the final song of the night, the dancers and volunteers linked arms in a giant circle, kicking Rockette-style and singing along. Some dancers even wanted more.

"Let's go another 14 hours!" Hammer said.