The hours after a DanceBlue marathon hit you hard.

You can feel those 24 hours in your feet. In your calves. In your shoulders and back. It’s hard to get out of bed the next day. It’s even harder to go to class.

But after three years of DanceBlue marathons, this year, the thing I felt the most after 24 hours of standing and dancing on the floor of Memorial Coliseum wasn’t my feet or legs. It was love.

Nowhere other than DanceBlue can you feel love so palpable. That’s because there’s nowhere else in the world you can you find so many sweaty, crazy people united in one mission – loving the kids of Kentucky who need it the most. And there’s nowhere else can you find so many courageous kids smiling in the face of cancer, even on days when there is little to smile about. That’s what makes DanceBlue special.

For me, this last year serving DanceBlue on Committee has been a whirlwind of dancing, traveling, and learning from some of the most selfless UK students you could ever meet. Truthfully, this year has taught me more about what’s really important in life than I could’ve ever imagined. And for that I say, thank you.

Even though the best year of my life is coming to an end, and my time dancing in Memorial Coliseum is over, I’m still comforted by the fact that the love that surrounds DanceBlue will far outlast me. DanceBlue started with the love from one little boy named Jarrett Mynear, and over the past 15 years that love has never wavered – it’s only multiplied. DanceBlue’s $2,000,190.20 fundraising total for 2020, is surely evidence enough of that. I know that for years to come UK’s students will continue to dance for a cure, until one day they can finally dance in celebration of one, and I can’t wait to cheer them on. 

Until the Battle is Won. Thank you, DanceBlue.

Jacob Eads is the Managing Editor of the Kernel and served on DanceBlue’s Morale Committee for DanceBlue 2020.