UTSA students to host 18-hour dance marathon benefiting children with cancer

UTSA students at For the Kids event at Penn State University

By Omar Hernandez
Social Media Coordinator, Office of University Communications

(April 11, 2012) -- The UTSA student organization For the Kids (FTK) will host an 18-hour, high-energy, no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon from 7 p.m., Friday, April 13 to 1 p.m., Saturday, April 14 in the UTSA Convocation Center on the UTSA Main Campus. The marathon will benefit children with cancer and their families.

The FTK dance marathon will feature a group of marathoners, the FTK Dancers, who will participate by standing and dancing for 18 hours while interacting and performing with the children and their families.

The goal is to raise awareness while providing financial and emotional support for the children and their families affected by childhood cancer. The event is a metaphoric way to show the children they have friends who will stand for them against cancer.

"We will continue to dance for the children year after year until one day we can dance in celebration of a cure for childhood cancer," said Ryan Zapata, FTK chair and UTSA graduate student in management of technology. "Together, we hope to make every wish come true -- one dance at a time."

The FTK dance marathon will feature other San Antonio groups such as the CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children's Hospital hematology/oncology department staff, Business Careers High School students and the Clark High School drum line and state baton-twirling champion.

Sixteen UTSA students visited Penn State University in February to see how their long-standing 46-hour FTK event was presented. More than 15,000 attended the Penn State event, which raised $10.6 million. FTK has existed nationally for 40 years.

For more information call 210-449-3524 or visit the For the Kids website.