As a current External Director I probably shouldn’t admit to this (maybe look at it in the light of personal growth or a testament to the alluring power of DMUM), but I was a rather ~unengaged~ dancer my Freshman year. All throughout high school I had volunteered at a summer camp for children with different abilities as a camp counselor, helping therapists with music, art, dance, rec, and yoga therapy sessions. Coming into college, I knew I wanted to find a way to continue that work. 

Flash forward to my first Festifall and I noticed the Dance Marathon table. Thinking it was a dance group and confident in my inability to dance, I passed by without a second thought. But every person on this campus knows or will soon know how wonderfully bubbly and pushy our DMUM recruitment efforts are and suddenly I was face to face with a stranger asking me, “DO YOU LIKE KIDS????” Well, I don’t know about you, but how I couldn’t say no to that. After my shock wore off and through a little bit of conversing, I learned what the club was actually about. I thought it was divine intervention helping me to find exactly what I was looking for. 

Yet despite that holy sign, due to the true Freshman problem of joining far too many clubs at Festifall, I ended up barely going to house parties, never attempting bucketing, and missing out on all of the family events and volunteer opportunities.

It was now February, I had 0$ in my fundraising page and I had a month to make 300$ to get to VictorThon (a requirement that has changed now). I spent the next month in a mad dash to make up the money, bucketing for the first time with Lauren Raich, our current Executive Director and the person I consider to be my first DMUM friend, and Johnny Cole, someone who I discovered a little while later was a terrific dancer. Once I started to meet people in DMUM I started to really enjoy my time there, it made me feel welcomed and comfortable.

Finally VictorThon came and I was excited and nervous because I had no idea what to expect and I was out of shape and kind of scared to have to stand for that long. But by the end of that experience I was nothing short of bawling my eyes out. Whether it was the fatigue and delirium, Larry’s speech at the closing ceremony, or the feeling of truly being a part of something larger than yourself, it was an overwhelming feeling of joy, happiness, and inspiration that I had never experienced before. 

After I wiped my eyes I ran to the nearest leadership member I could find and asked how to become a steering member. I knew that I wanted to do more for this organization. That spring I joined the K-12 Engagement committee, working with our school partners to help put on mini-VictorThon’s and help build their DMUM programs. At the end of my Sophomore year when I had successfully completed my second VictorThon, I remember running to the then External Director Sydney Jose and asking how I could apply for CPT. Later that spring I became the chair of the K-12 Committee. And finally, my junior year as my term as K-12 Chair was coming to a close, I remember again running to Sydney Jose and also Jess Leason, Lauren Raich, and Madi Kent asking about how to become a director. Later that spring I became the External Director working with all of our community audiences.

What I hope you’ve realized by reading this is that with DMUM you get out what you put in. The more effort and time you put into DMUM, the more amazing people you will meet, the more memories you’ll make with families, and the more satisfaction you’ll have by knowing you were able to leave a bigger impact on an organization that defined and made your college experience. Words cannot describe how grateful I am to this organization and I hope and know that everyone can find a way to fall in love with DMUM. 

Always and forever FTK,

Rohit Misra