In 2017, the students at Lampeter-Strasburg High School (LSHS) filmed a lip dub video to the song "Footloose." The video was intended to serve as an invitation for LSHS students to attend Mini-THON and get excited about what was to come at the event. After coming across this video recently, an executive committee member of the 2022 LSHS Mini-THON decided to resurrect the idea and make something new.

Recorded outside, the four-and-a-half-minute video shows about 1,000 students singing along to "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Mini-THON co-adviser Lindsay Shehan filmed while co-adviser Adam Titter held the speaker. A student captured drone footage, and members of the FFA trailered in a few horses.

"I think the video was great because I think it had a great symbolic message of how much fun Mini-THON can be and how we can get everyone together to fight cancer, which is the ultimate goal of Mini-THON," commented junior and Mini-THON chairperson Maggie Swarr.

Mini-THON is an annual fundraiser where students must stay awake and stand for 12 hours to raise money for Four Diamonds, which aims to conquer childhood cancer. The motto of Mini-THON is "FTK" because everything the students do during Mini-THON is "For The Kids."

"We stay up for 12 hours straight, and the whole point of that is to try to give you a little bit of what it feels like for these kids who are having long, hard nights. They're just going through so much," explained Swarr.

Due to a rise in COVID-19 cases locally, this year's Mini-THON has been rescheduled from Friday, Feb. 11, to Friday, March 18. More than $30,000 was raised at the 2020 Mini-THON, and this year's goal is to raise at least $25,000.

"I like seeing everyone come together as a community and just support one cause," said Titter. "This is a cause that you see teenagers get behind and really go out of their way to raise money for and show up in person. To see that all come together in one event is just a really cool experience."

To watch the video, visit https://bit.ly/LSHSMini-THONVideo. To donate to the LSHS Mini-THON, visit https://bit.ly/LSHS2022Mini-THON. More information about Four Diamonds is available at https://fourdiamonds.org.