By MICHAEL C. UPTON, Correspondent
An average Saturday evening for a teenager probably includes video games, cell phone texting, singing and dancing.
Garden Spot students and mini-THON co-organizers Shelby Devoe (from left), Dylan Bensinger and Lisa Sn
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In that sense, Saturday night was a typical weekend evening for 194 students from Garden Spot, Cocalico and Ephrata high schools.
However, add in the fact that those students raised more than $19,000 for charity and the evening becomes anything but typical.
That is what happened when students from the three schools gathered at Garden Spot High School for a mini-THON to raise money for the Four Diamonds Fund.
The mini-THON was a hodgepodge of games and activities that kept the students active and entertained for six hours.
"We have a lot of activities going on throughout the building," chaperone Jeff Martin said. "Let's play for a good cause."
The first activity of the evening was a hula hoop contest in the gym. Student Selma Mahmutovic of Garden Spot got right into the fun, twirling the hoop around her neck while more than 20 other students organized a line dance to the song "The Electric Slide," complete with dimmed lights and special effects.
Throughout the evening students participated in ping-pong and karaoke tournaments, had '80s makeovers, and played dodgeball and three-on-three basketball. Students also took part in television-inspired games, like a Scooby-Doo scavenger hunt, the Family Feud, and a high school-rated version of "Fear Factor."
The biggest hit of the night, as predicted by co-organizer Lisa Snader, was a cell phone texting contest. Students had seconds to shoot off a message from their phone to another cell phone.
And, what charity event would be complete without an eating contest — in this case, ice cream.
This year's mini-THON theme was "Rockin' Around the Clock." Starting with the '50s, the DJ played music from each decade, changing the hits every hour until reaching the current decade. Students donned purple "Rockin' Around the Clock" shirts and had no inhibitions about showing off on the dance floor.
The mini-THON is an offshoot of a national event that raised more than $6 million for The Four Diamonds Fund. According to the charity's mission statement, the Four Diamonds Fund aims to "conquer childhood cancer by assisting children treated at Penn State Children's Hospital."
Established in 1972, the fund has aided more than 2,000 families by helping to offset medical costs. The fund also provides money for pediatric cancer research through start-up grants and the Four Diamonds Pediatric Cancer Research Institute.
The annual mini-THON is co-organized by students from each of the three schools.
"The student councils all get together and plan everything out together," Garden Spot student Lisa Snader said.
This is the sixth year for the event. For 2008, students set a goal to raise $6,000 for the Four Diamonds Fund. They far surpassed that goal Saturday by raising $19,405.
Snader called the evening a success. Students who gathered in the hallway playing the video game Rock Band on a large projection monitor simply called the evening "awesome."
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