While some students were out enjoying the weekend — or for those unfortunate few, stuck indoors studying — a record-setting number of students danced from Friday to Saturday in the third annual DanceBlue at Memorial Coliseum.

For 24 straight hours, students shook off blisters, fatigue and sleep to raise money for the Pediatric Oncology Unit at UK Children’s Hospital. It goes without saying that everybody involved in the event should be commended for participating in such a worthy cause.

In just three short years, the annual dance marathon has already become a mainstay on UK’s campus. Because of the overwhelming support of students, faculty, alumni and the Lexington community, the event has almost tripled in size and nearly quadrupled in funds raised since the events inception in 2006.

This year alone, DanceBlue raised $424,855, according to a Kernel article Monday, up significantly from the $123,323 the event raised two years ago. The overwhelming numbers, of course, lay heavily on the backs of the nearly 500 participants involved and their unselfish efforts.

And though the dance marathon is a once-a-year event, we should recognize that those involved in DanceBlue do much more to fight cancer than just dance their hearts out once every February. Instead, the dance marathon is the culmination of a year of organizing and fundraising. Also, many of the 75 teams sponsor the families of children with cancer and have activities with them throughout the year, said Megan Tolley, vice chair of DanceBlue and an integrated strategic communications and English senior, in Monday’s Kernel article.

We applaud everybody involved in DanceBlue, and we hope the event will continue to grow in size while maintaining its concentration on supporting families affected by cancer.