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How it all began...  Dance Marathon had its humble beginnings in 1973 when the Interfraternity Council at Penn State University decided to start a Dance Marathon as a fundraiser for Four Diamonds fund at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.

In 1995, Children's Miracle Network adopted Dance Marathon when Indiana University raised more than $60,000 for the Ryan White Infectious Diseases Fund.  Now, over 75 campuses across the nation raise millions of dollars each year for CMN hospitals.

Starting with a bang... Rice University first heard of Dance Marathon when Alex Kipp, after participating in Dance Marathon at University of Iowa, came down to Houston and brought the idea of Dance Marathon with him.  With outstanding support from faculty and students and a rockin' committee to help, Rice University held its first annual Dance marathon on February 22, 2003 in the Grand Hall, Rice Memorial Center.  From 10 pm to 10 am, students, faculty, and Miracle families gathered for a 12 hour celebration, a culmination of months of fundraising work.  

While the term "dance marathon" at one time meant a competition with couples dancing together until they fell down, CMN Dance Marathons have so much more!  While dancing is a large part of our event, there are great food from local restaurants, friends, families, bands, masseurs, dance lessons, and so much more!

A lasting tradition... We hope to make this a lasting tradition at Rice University.  All the money that is raised through Stayin' Awake for Kids' Sake goes straight to Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital, the local CMN-affiliated hospital located right across the street from Rice.  With specialty areas in premature births and childhood trauma, Memorial Hermann concentrates on healing the entire child and family as a whole.  Memorial Hermann also does not consider a family's financial status when deciding whether or not to treat a child.  It is because of this and all the great programs that exist at Memorial Hermann Children's Hospital that we here at Stayin' Awake for Kids' Sake are so excited and honored to be helping them out.

> Learn more

Learn more about Dance Marathon by following the links below.

• MEMORIAL HERMANN - The hospital where our proceeds go

• 2003 DANCE MARATHON GALLERY - Documenting our first ever Dance Marathon

• OTHER SCHOOLS - Find out which schools participate