NJIT HighlanderThon 2016 Reaches New Heights

NJIT’s annual Miracle Network Dance Marathon reached the end of its second year at the institution with HighlanderThon on April 2. This year, the event raised $20,591.02 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a charity which supports Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Jersey.

The amount raised was roughly $4,000 more than last year, with a majority of the money raised during the week of the event. The dance marathon planning team was able to find several partners and philanthropists in the surrounding Newark area, including Chipotle and Panda Express, who donated large amounts of food to feed the participants at the event.

For Evan Tyerman, NJIT Senior and the dance marathon’s executive director, the conclusion of the event was a bittersweet moment. This year’s HighlanderThon was his last. He has been with the dance marathon since it was first pioneered at NJIT.

“I am so happy to be passing off the reins to an amazing group of directors who will take HighlanderThon to heights I can’t even imagine,” said Tyerman. “Our main goal from the start of HighlanderThon was to create a culture of giving back and establish a community of student volunteers, and we are so close to that goal.”

The event itself took place in the Campus Center of NJIT where students stood and danced for 12 hours straight. Over a hundred students came to participate in the marathon throughout the day, with several appearances by children and families from the hospital who shared their touching stories.

The dance marathon planning team is already working toward HighlanderThon 2017, with board elections already taking place. Senior Vrata Patel will be taking over as executive director. “With our new and highly motivated steering directors, the possibilities are endless,” says Patel. “We are beyond ready to take our experience and turn HighlanderThon 2017 into the best dance marathon this campus has ever seen!”

Tyerman also has high hopes for the future board. “I know this new board will be able to make those dreams a reality, and the HighlanderThon family will grow year after year,” said Tyerman. “It is bittersweet to be leaving the organization after giving it my heart and soul, but doing it on a high note and leaving it in such great hands, I could not be happier. I came to NJIT wanting to make an impact, wanting to leave my legacy, and I did that with HighlanderThon.”

About NJIT

One of the nation’s leading public technological universities, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a top-tier research university that prepares students to become leaders in the technology-dependent economy of the 21st century. NJIT’s multidisciplinary curriculum and computing-intensive approach to education provide technological proficiency, business acumen and leadership skills. With an enrollment of 11,300 graduate and undergraduate students, NJIT offers small-campus intimacy with the resources of a major public research university. NJIT is a global leader in such fields as solar research, nanotechnology, resilient design, tissue engineering and cybersecurity, in addition to others. NJIT ranks fifth among U.S. polytechnic universities in research expenditures, topping $110 million, and is among the top 1 percent of public colleges and universities in return on educational investment, according to Payscale.com. NJIT has a $1.74 billion annual economic impact on the state of New Jersey.