Jupiter High’s Key Club’s fourth annual Dance Marathon was held on Feb. 23 from 5-10 p.m. in the school’s cafeteria. The marathon raised over $35,000, exceeding their goal.

Dance Marathon is a fundraising event held across the country at colleges and high schools for various children’s hospitals. The funds raised at Jupiter High will be added to the total money raised at the University of Florida’s Dance Marathon before being donated to Shand’s Miracle Network. Children’s Miracle Network is a group of children’s hospitals around the country, and Shand’s is the one located in Gainesville, Fla. Their goal is to ease the financial burden of families with children who live in hospitals.

“One hundred percent of the money donated to Dance Marathon or raised from entrance fees goes to the kids. All of the food and entertainment at the dance are donated by local venders,” Michael Hammett, Key Club and Dance Marathon sponsor, said.

Jupiter High’s “Mini Marathon” is a shorter version of the university’s 26.4 hour events. Part of attending a dance marathon is not sitting for the duration of the event. A slogan of the event is to “dance for those who can’t,” and the highlight of the marathon is getting to meet the “miracle children.” At every dance marathon, one or two children who are or were a resident at Shand’s Miracle Network Pediatric Hospital are the guests of honor.

“This year’s miracle child was so cute! He put me in the fake jail that was set up as a fundraiser, and I had to raise $50 to get out,” sophomore Megan Palmieri said.

Jupiter High’s Dance Marathon had a fun party atmosphere with a different theme for each hour of the event. This year’s themes were space, country, rave, tropical and carnival.

“The last hour of the dance was my favorite because the two miracle children sang a duet, and it was the cutest and most inspiring thing,” junior Maya Milstein, co-president of Key Club and head overall of Dance Marathon, said.

Although their season ended, the Warrior Dance Team performed at the event for the second consecutive year. They performed two of their popular pom routines: “Miami Heat” and “Swirl.”

“It is such an honor to be able to dance for such an incredible event. I am so excited,” junior and Dance Team captain Kayleigh Sternberg said.