Students raise $11 million-plus in annual dance marathon

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Hundreds of Penn State students have raised almost $11.7 million dollars for pediatric cancer patients in the annual 46-hour dance marathon known as Thon. The $11,696,942.38 total was announced Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, billed as the world’s largest student-run philanthropy. Money raised benefits pediatric cancer patients and their families at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. The amount raised this year was more than $1 million over last year’s total. Before this year’s event, officials said the dance marathon had raised more than $168 million since 1977.