SUPERDANCE

Superdance is a twelve hour danceathon held to raise money for children with Cystic Fibrosis. Every year it is held at my high school, Bishop O'Connell High School, where the students have raised over $3 million since 1976. Superdance is one of the largest High School fund-raising events in the United States, and until recently was the highest fund-raising event for the Cystic Fibrosis foundation. Superdance began the movement to help find a cure for CF, a little known disease that affects 30,000 people in the United States. Each year we have a 12 hour dance where we dance the night away while also playing games, eating food, listen to bands, and all around party for 12 hours straight. No high school I know has anything like this. Each year, each senior class has attempted to top the previous year's Superdance total. The largest amount of money raised was from Superdance 2001, the year that $178,000 was raised prior to and the day of Superdance, and an additional $18,000 was raised after the dance, totaling $196,000. The second highest was Superdance 2006, the year that $186,000 was raised. In 2007, the goal was to raise $200,000 in the hope of breaking the three million dollar mark for the total amount collected. I remember this year when we reached the 3 million mark. The school was so proud of what we had done and the people with CF were so thankful. Nearly all of Bishop O'Connells students attend Superdance, and it has become the unifying event of the school. At the dance, the students receive a Superdance t-shirt, which everyone wears during the dance, creating a sea of identically-shirted dancing students. The dance is run nearly entirely by students on committees, who set up the dance, contract the bands and DJs, count and collect the money, and provide nearly all the labor. They also advertise the dance on the local news stations and radio stations, as well as on a website, www.superdance.org. Superdance is a huge event and I love every part of it. I have DJed for the dance 3 of the 4 years I had been at the high school and am planning on returning this year to DJ again. If anyone would like to come and you are in the DC area on March 13th from 12noon to 12am, hit me up because I can get you in.