Bruinthon, RBHS’ corresponding club for the Mini Mizzouthon dance marathon, is having a holiday cookie decorating event on Friday after school from 4:15-5 in the cafeteria to raise money for the University of Missouri — Columbia’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital and recruit more members for the Bruinthon organization. Attendees must pay $1 to decorate one cookie and 3 for $2, any RBHS student is welcome to attend. Senior Grace Dyer, the co-coordinator of Bruinthon, said the club is determined to get more people involved in Bruinthon.
“I’m hoping for the event to be a fun way that new people can get involved with our club and a way for existing members to have fun while supporting a great cause,” Dyer said. “We will have holiday music and delicious cookies, so it should be a nice way to relax at the end of a stressful school week.”
The RBHS organization holds a 6.5 dance marathon annually in the spring to continue supporting the local Children’s Miracle Network; this year it’s on March 7 at RBHS in the main gym, and if members raise $100 individually, they can even attend the University of Missouri — Columbia’s (Mizzou) affiliation of the event, a 13.1 hour dance marathon at the Recreation (REC) Center in April. Throughout the school year, Bruinthon members are fundraising, canning — standing on street corners with signs and buckets asking for donations — and even organize profit shares with local restaurants to benefit Columbia’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital. As a liaison between Mizzouthon and Bruinthon, Mizzou student and representative Courtney Cohan’s role is to make sure the high school division in central Missouri, which includes RBHS, Battle High School, Hickman High School and Jefferson City High School, can “grow as strong as the campus team.”
“All funds raised at the Mini Dance Marathon and Mizzouthon are donated to the NICU to fully pay for new omnibeds and the full-year salary of a music therapist,” Cohan said. “People can and should get involved by registering for the Bruinthon main event by registering on mizzouthon.com and joining the Bruinthon team. That registration gets you entry into the Bruinthon main event on March 7 and gets you 6.5 hours of bad dancing, food and fun.”
Senior Greta Scheidt, Bruinthon’s Logistics Director, said she hopes the cookie decorating event on Friday will help “put the word out” about the club and encourage more participation.
“The set-up of Bruinthon has changed a lot in the past few years, and we have split off to host our own event rather than a combined one at Mizzou,” Scheidt said. “As the program continues to gain experience, I hope it will continue to expand.”
Cohan said the future for the organization includes an entirely student-run, independent club in “becoming a bigger piece of the Mizzouthon main event on Mizzou campus.” The Bruinthon leadership team and club members are excited to continue to raise money for a good cause in the coming months, Dyer said, starting with tomorrow’s event.
“The future of Bruinthon looks bright to me given the fact that we have a strong leadership team including a group of committed juniors who will do a great job of continuing Bruinthon next year,” Dyer said. “Additionally, this will only be our second year holding the main event at Rock Bridge, so I believe that the event will continue to grow each year.”
