The Penn State Harrisburg Lady Lions held a gold-out event for THON on October 17 against Lycoming to assist in raising awareness for childhood cancer. Penn State Harrisburg’s THON Committee had a table at the front of the gym selling gold-out t-shirts to promote the organization.
“Our event is what we call a gold-out volleyball game,” said Mackenzie Marker, President of PSH THON.
“We sell our merchandise and we promote our event. We ask people whether they are willing to donate to pediatric cancer research,” she continued.
The women’s volleyball team was excited to represent the THON organization during the game.
“To play for THON meant alot but being able to play for the cause really helps us spread the word and spread the knowledge about everything,” senior player Julia Choe said.
During the first set, the Lady Lions fell short, losing to Lycoming 13-6. In the second set, seven ties occurred. However, Lycoming battled back, causing the Lady Lions to fall short again by a score of 15-11. In the final round, Lycoming scored five points in a row leading to a third loss for PSH with a 25-18 finish.
Despite the loss, the team was thinking about the bigger picture – helping THON raise money for childhood cancer.
“Quite literally in the middle of the game we discussed, ‘we’re not doing great right now, we’re losing’,” Choe stated.
“You can’t necessarily play to win, you need to play for a cause. That was exactly our reasoning behind that game,” she added.
The Penn State Harrisburg THON Committee believes the game was a success despite the Lady Lions falling short.
“I know we spread awareness about it, so we did have quite a few people who knew what we were doing and what our mission was,” mentioned THON President Marker.
The Gold-Out at Volleyball match raised 400 dollars. THON holds many events throughout the semester. Visit the PSH Calendar of Events for information on upcoming events.
