As we transition from summer to fall, we are going into the school year getting our dancers excited for what is going to be a great Dance Marathon 27. Madie Jensen, Dance Marathon 27’s Recruitment and Retention Director and her committee are hard at work recruiting dancers for DM27. Recruiting dancers to join our fight against pediatric cancer is a huge team effort. The work is done mainly by those apart of the Recruitment and Retention Committee, but the rest of leadership also helps. Extended leadership groups were established for this reason, to recruit as many students to join Dance Marathon. Madie Jensen further explains extended leadership groups, “Extended leadership groups are made up of leadership members from the different committees within Dance Marathon and come together to lead a group of Dancers for their Miracle Group. Each leadership member is so important to their Miracle Group because they bring a new and different perspective to the group!” It is fun for to watch Extended Leadership groups excel and see how everyone brings their own strengths to be able to work together towards the same goal.
The Recruitment and Retention Committee have been able to complete their efforts virtually and are always looking forward to implementing new practices to help recruit dancers. There has been a lot of work done by their committee and the rest of leadership to ask dancers to join Dance Marathon. Recruitment and Retention is broken down into Lime and Morale Captains. Madie explains, “Captains individually reach out to dancers, connect on social media to get them information they need, and have group chats to help get to know each other in each of the Miracle Groups.” Miracle groups are groups that dancers are placed into that have Captains to help guide them through the year. Captains reach out to dancers to make sure they are up to date in everything they need to know about what is going on in the Dance Marathon world.
This year will look a little different for incoming dancers, but our mission has not changed. Dance Marathon 27 will continue to support the kiddos and their families, fundraise, and fight to end pediatric cancer. Along with many others, Jensen is excited about the opportunities that are present in order to create new traditions and implementing meaningful changes to Dance Marathon. Dance Marathon 27 will be a challenging year, but we will continue to Rise with Resilience.
By: Jadie Knobbe, Public Relations Committee DM 27
