SWE and THON– Keri Wolfe (junior, Chemical Engineering)

One of the groups I’m most involved with here on campus is the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). SWE is a really awesome group of girls (and even some guys!) to support women in the field of engineering. And here’s the best part—SWE is a national professional organization, so even after graduation, you can still stay involved as you move into your career! The Penn State SWE chapter has about 300 members, but only about 150 active members.

SWE has lots of great networking and professional events. They sponsor and run the Engineering Career Fair each spring, host Networking Receptions multiple times throughout the year, where you can meet employers, and also organize information sessions where companies can teach you about their job opportunities!

SWE also does lots of service projects—this is a great way to volunteer while meeting more women in engineering majors and building your teamwork skills! In the past, SWE has done outreach events for high school girls, Habitat for Humanity, various presentations at STEM fairs and similar venues, and Angel Tree Gift Collection at Christmastime.

And as if that isn’t enough, SWE even has social events! SWE hosts a Semi-formal for the College of Engineering each year, along with an awards banquet, and we are represented in Homecoming, one of my personal favorite traditions at Penn State!

SWE also participates in THON, which is kind of social, but also service! If you haven’t heard about THON before, it is a 46-hour no-sitting, no-sleeping Dance Marathon that benefits the Four Diamonds Foundation at Hershey Medical Center that assists families affected by pediatric cancer. In short, THON raises money to help kids with cancer. If you live in Pennsylvania, you’ve probably seen college kids fundraising on the weekends with cans and signs that say “Help Kids Fight Cancer”—those are Penn State kids! Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of THON, it has over 15,000 volunteers and over 700 dancers each year, it’s the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, and this year we raised $9.56 million for the kids!

There are TONS of ways to get involved in THON. THON is run by committees including Hospitality, Rules and Regulations, OPPerations, Morale, Entertainment, Special Events, Supply Logistics, Finance, and more! These are awesome groups and a lot of people really enjoy getting to know their committee members throughout the year. You can join groups to fundraise for THON too—all Greek organizations participate, and there are some groups that are student clubs just for the purpose of raising money for THON. There are also lots of organizations on campus that are established clubs who participate in many things, one of which being THON (like SWE).

This year, I had the honor of representing SWE and our partner, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) as a dancer in THON. There were four dancers from our organization, and we all had a wonderful experience. It isn’t easy to dance in THON, but if you think of all of the pain that the kids with cancer face as they go through treatment, it’s really nothing to be hurting for a weekend! THON is a colorful, energetic, and loud environment, full of kids having squirt gun battles and blowing bubbles—it’s so fun to get to be a kid again for the weekend!

Organizations that participate in THON often have THON families, which means that we are directly linked with a family affected by pediatric cancer. We try to get together with this family many times throughout the year, and we send them cards and gifts too! Then, we get to hang out with them at THON as well!

As a dancer, I was paired up with a “moraler” that helped me during the weekend and kept my spirits up, and my family and friends visited me throughout the weekend. There are also tons of people in the stands watching THON at all hours of the day and night. THON’s schedule is packed with different bands performing and the Kids Talent Show where THON children can perform in front of thousands of people! There’s also Family Hour, where parents and kids can tell their own cancer stories and the effects that cancer had on their family.

At Penn State, I strongly urge you to become a part of THON—whether you join a committee, Greek life, an organization—anything! It is a way that you can really make a difference in the life of a child. THON is growing at a crazy rate, and someday, you’ll be telling your grandchildren about how YOU were a part of THON and how YOU helped raise almost $10 million to help kids with cancer!