DUNMORE, Pa. — For the first time in the history of the Penn State Scranton campus, four dancers are headed to THON.
They'll join more than 700 fellow Penn Staters on the dance floor.
They were very excited and a little nervous, but whether they're a freshman or a senior, whether they go to Penn State Main Campus or a satellite campus, for those 46 hours, they're all a part of one team with one mission.
In a few days, four of these Penn state Scranton students will be cheering once again as the grand fundraising total is revealed at the end of Penn State's THON weekend.
The Scranton campus sends a small group of students every year to the main campus to take part in the 46-hour dance marathon.
The number of dancers they send depends on how much money they raise. This year, they exceeded their fundraising goal of $35,000, meaning they got to send four dancers for the first time ever.
Some of the dancers attended THON last year as supporters, and the experience inspired them to participate more fully.
"I fell in love with the energy, and what it means, and what it means to be a part of THON. I remember there was a couple of people standing next to me, and I looked at them and said, 'this is what I want to do next year. I want to be more involved,'" said senior Alicia Santarsiero.
"My sister was a dancer, so I was just in the stands. I was in the stands for about 26 hours, standing. So being able to see it, seeing how electric it is, it was awesome," said freshman John Squatrito.
A personal connection to childhood cancer inspired sophomore Lauren Rzucidlo to get involved.
"My mom actually worked with a girl named Kayla, who was very involved with THON, and her face just lit up when she talked about it. And she was very involved; she was a dancer. She, unfortunately, got cancer and passed away from it," Rzucidlo said.
When they say "F T K," -- for the kids -- the four dancers from Scranton will have one kid especially on their minds: Arelis Rodriguez, who the campus is sponsoring this year.
"We always have her in our hearts and in our minds. We hope that while we're down there on the floor that she's definitely going to be a huge motivator for us to keep going and to keep pushing for her," Santarsiero said.
Some of the dancers have been hitting the gym and eating healthier to physically prepare for the weekend. Others are just planning to wing it.
But when we asked senior David Jobs what his game plan is, his answer perfectly summed up the magic that surrounds THON.
"Hope that it doesn't end too soon. That's my game plan."
The Scranton campus exceeded its fundraising goal raising more than $39,000 in the fight against childhood cancer.
THON officially begins at 6 p.m. Friday and ends at 4 p.m. on Sunday.