BOONE, N.C. — More than 200 faculty, staff and students found their groove on the dance floor of Appalachian State University’s Legends Saturday, Feb. 24, during the 2018 Dance Marathon. The marathon was coordinated by Appalachian and the Community Together (ACT).

The 15th annual 15-hour event raised $42,696.46 to benefit two local nonprofit organizations — Parent to Parent Family Support Network-High Country (FSN-HC), which is housed in the university’s Reich College of Education, and Western Youth Network (WYN). Both organizations provide essential services to children and their families in Watauga County and the High Country of Western North Carolina.

To participate, students registered and pledged to raise a minimum of $150 or $10 per hour of dancing. In 2017, nearly 200 dancers participated and raised $39,088.90.

“The commitment from the students is incredible. Dance Marathon funds have kept our program alive in three counties for years now,” said Kaaren Hayes, director and coordinator of Parent to Parent FSN-HC.

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On a recent Friday evening, Katherine Moss, a master’s student at Wake Forest School of Medicine’s physician assistant (PA) studies program at Appalachian State University in Boone, took an unconventional “class.” She attended a meeting of the Parent to Parent Family Support Network-High Country.

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About Parent to Parent Family Support Network-High Country

Parent to Parent Family Support Network-High Country (FSN-HC) provides free support, caring connections, information and hope to families who have a premature baby, a child with a disability, an emotional or behavioral challenge, a mental illness or a chronic health condition, and to families who are grieving the death of a child. The program serves seven counties in Western North Carolina: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey. Parent to Parent FSN-HC provides information and tools to help families see the possibilities for their children and turn that potential into reality. Learn more at https://parent2parent.appstate.edu.

About the Western Youth Network

The Western Youth Network (WYN) is a Boone-based nonprofit organization that invests in the lives of children and youth in order to build a better future and a stronger community for the High Country. WYN provides unique and quality programming that offers individualized support to hundreds of High Country children and youth, including substance abuse prevention, mentoring and after-school programming, as well as summer camps.

About the Reich College of Education

Appalachian State University offers one of the largest undergraduate teacher preparation programs in North Carolina, graduating about 500 teachers a year. The Reich College of Education enrolls more than 2,000 students in its bachelor’s, master’s, education specialist and doctoral degree programs, with offerings that span multiple fields — from teacher preparation, counseling, and therapy, to higher education, school and student affairs administration, library science, educational leadership and more. With over 10,000 alumni employed in North Carolina public schools, there is at least one Reich College graduate in every county in the state. Learn more at https://rcoe.appstate.edu.

About Appalachian State University

As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.

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