My DMUM Story!!
Hi! My name is Sanjna Pradhan and I am a senior. I’ve been involved with Dance Marathon for the past couple of years now and have been enjoying my time with the organization a lot! My freshman year, I went to Victorthon, hardly having any idea what the event would be like. My friends were pretty involved at that point and I went with the intentions of supporting them at an event they’ve worked hard for. At this point, I was not a member of DMUM, but after staying at the event for fifteen hours, I realized this is exactly the kind of organization I had been looking to become a part of. I decided to become more involved my sophomore year by becoming a dancer captain and reigniting a team through IASA that had become forgotten before then. I was able to become more involved with DMUM, working alongside one of my friends who was just as passionate about our cause as I was. For the 2019-2020 year, as a member of the steering team for Corporate & Foundation Relations, I was able to have a much more direct impact on our mission by communicating with businesses to bring in money that we were able to factor into our final number. In that position, I also felt a lot more inspired to work hard towards my personal fundraising goal to reach the comma club and fundraising $1,000+, which I would’ve never seen coming as a dancer captain my first year in DMUM. I have seen the organization grow in ways I never could have imagined just through my involvement these past couple of years. The satisfaction of putting a smile on the faces of the families that we work alongside is unparalleled and it’s something I will continue to work towards in my position as part of the Public Relations steering team. Even with the atypical year we’ve all had, Dance Marathon was so well-prepared to handle virtual fundraising efforts and a virtual Victorthon at the end of it. I believe that if we were able to strategically handle a situation like that during a pandemic that we will accomplish so much working together this upcoming year!