Alpha Phi Omega’s sixth annual Stay-Awake-a-Thon raised more than $2,000 for the D.C. Family Health and Birth Center March 25.
More than 100 students attended the eight-hour dance event, according to APO President Tori Frappaolo and Co-Event Organizer Kelsey Cardwell. Last year’s event combined Stay-Awake-A-Thon and Women’s Initiative’s “Stay Awake and Dance” (STAND) into one event, raising more than $5,000 for the D.C. Rape Crisis Center and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, according to Co-Event Organizer Kate Greubel.
The Family Health and Birth Center focuses on providing midwife services to mothers in low-income areas and decreasing the infant and maternal mortality rates in D.C., according to Cynthia Flynn, the center’s director.
The night’s events included a variety of performances, speakers and prizes.
Bowie High School’s step team, AU in Motion and the AU bhangra, salsa and swing teams performed and taught attendees how to dance.
Jacobs Fitness Center Instructor Leah Breen led Zumba, a Latin-inspired dance fitness program that blends international music with dance.
“We really wanted to focus on engaging students more this year,” Cardwell said. “Not just in the program itself, but with the performers and in the performances, too.”
Bryce Biederman, a sophomore in the School of Communication, had never danced Zumba before the event.
“I didn’t expect it to be as challenging as it was,” Biederman said. “It was quite a workout, but I would do it again.”
Other performances included a capella groups On A Sensual Note and Treble in Paradise, as well as the Matt Reiter and Friends band.
SOC Professor Kyle “Kylos” Brannon mixed videos and College of Arts and Sciences senior Greg Cornell provided musical entertainment throughout the night.
The Stay-Awake-a-Thon also featured an eating contest where teams were required to eat an entire Papa John’s cheese pizza and a half-gallon of vanilla ice cream.
Team Charlie Sheen, made up of CAS freshman Emma Horvath and Howard University APO members Liu Jones, John Saulters and Blaize Parker, won the contest.
This was the Howard chapter’s first time participating in such an event like Stay-Awake-A-Thon. Greubel invited the Howard chapter to Stay-Awake-A-Thon after they met at an APO sectionals conference earlier in the semester, according to Parker.
Sponsors of the event included Women’s Initiative, the Greek Programming Board, Chi Omega, the Residence Hall Association and AU After Dark. Stay-Awake-a-Thon organizers also used an $800 Eagle Endowment grant to help fund the event.
Greubel said the first Stay-Awake-A-Thon was started as a fundraiser by AU APO alumna Beth Plewa in 2005.
Cardwell and Frappaolo said the event was also a part of Greek Week last year, but due to scheduling difficulties, APO was unable to fit the event in this year.
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