Roarthon Week: A Little Chaos, A Lot of Heart
If you didn’t notice, there was no blog this Tuesday. This is because I had the honor of representing my sorority at the annual Roarthon Pageant. For those of you who don’t know, Roarthon is an FIU organization that raises money throughout the year for the Children’s Miracle Network. In March, they have a dance marathon where Phi Mu has won for the past 15 years. Since I attended the pageant last year, I have been eager to be the next one to represent my chapter.
I was so excited when my sisters voted me to represent us a few months back, and since then, I have been planning different fundraisers for the week. The week consisted of recruitment weekend, 2 fundraising days, a toy drive, and, of course, pageant day!
One of the best parts of the whole week was honestly the support from my sisters. I was pretty stressed the entire week; having to continue this strong legacy was a LOT of pressure. But my sisters were sharing my posts, helping me table, sending me encouraging messages, literally anything I could possibly need, I knew my sisters were going to be there for me. It just felt really nice knowing I wasn’t doing everything alone.
And the toy drive… it turned out to be way more successful than I expected. I thought we’d get a small box worth of stuff, but by the end of the day we had bags on bags of toys. I was literally looking at our table in AWE, I could have never imagined that it would be so successful. That was definitely one of my favorite parts of the whole week.
Pageant day itself was actually crazy. I was extremely nervous all day, the anxiety was insane. But the second I took the stage, I remembered exactly why I did this in the first place, because our philanthropy means the world to me. I grew up in these hospitals, so being able to give back was the best feeling. The pageant consisted of an introduction, a dance, 3 on-stage questions, a canning round, and a final question. Every time I stepped on stage, all I saw was my sisters filling up half the audience, and all I heard was their cheers. I honestly could not have done it without them.
And I have to give the biggest thank you to my pham. They were in the dance with me, hyping me up, calming me down, and dealing with me being actually insane from the stress all week. I don’t know how they didn’t get so annoyed with me, but I’m eternally grateful for them. Having them by my side made me feel so much less nervous.
When it came time to announce the winner, I was internally freaking out on stage. So when they actually called my name, I was so excited that it did not feel real. I’m just really proud that I get to continue the Phi Mu Roarthon legacy.
Winning was amazing, but what made it even better was knowing how much love and support went into that week. Every fundraiser, every toy donation, every late-night planning moment, it all paid off. And honestly, I’m just really proud of the work we did together. This whole experience made me even more excited for Roarthon in March, and I can’t wait to keep pushing for the kids.
Till next time,
Sofi <3
