Early on the Saturday morning of September 8th, 2019, over 300 college students gathered to fight together. Behind our tired eyes, oversized sweatshirts, and large cups of coffee you could feel the passion and resilience backing the reason we got out of bed that morning. We spent four hours of our Saturday for the kids at the UIDM Extended Leadership Retreat.

The Extended Leadership Retreat is a time for all members of an extended leadership team to come together, bond, set goals, and remind ourselves of why we fight for the kids. Dancers are all put into a “miracle group”, which is a group encompassing leadership members from all cabinets as well as many other dancers. The extended leadership of each miracle group work all year long to raise money, create whys and instill passion within the dancers. The extended leadership retreat was our first time meeting with our team to begin building the bond that will carry us through until the Big Event.

At this retreat, each miracle group visited stations in different rotations. At these stations, team members got to set goals, compare strengths and participate in a fundraising challenge. My favorite part of the day was getting to write letters to my group’s family to remind them that we are thinking of them and already fighting for them this year!

While the Big Event isn’t happening until February, the passion UIDM Leadership has for our cause, our kiddos and our mission creates a movement spanning the entire year. We’re just getting back to school, and UIDM 26 is already getting started! Our extended leadership teams get to start meeting with our dancers this month to continue to spread the movement throughout the entire campus to remind everyone that we fight together!

By: Rachel Lacy, DM 26 PR Committee