Students, faculty and staff will dance the weekend away starting, April 6 for Dance Marathon.

The purpose of Dance Marathon is to raise money for the children’s hospital in Toledo through the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, said senior Megan Leiss, director of Dance Marathon. Students will stand for a total of 36 hours to raise the money — from Saturday at 10 a.m. to Sunday at 6 p.m.

Students had to register and raise more than $100 before being eligible to become a dancer. However, the deadline has already past for registration.

The theme for this year is “Superheroes are powered by heroes,” Leiss said.

Leiss couldn’t release how much money they raised thus far for Dance Marathon. However, the organization had a mini-marathon this past Sunday where teens from local high schools came and danced for six hours. They raised a total of $22,358.23 that day for Dance Marathon.

“Last year, we raised about $225,000 from Dance Marathon,” Leiss said.

Senior Cullin Fish is the public relations chair this year, but last year he was a morale captain.

“It was life changing,” Fish said. “Being a morale captain, you become the energy of the event.”

Fish was one of the 18 morale captains last year, each of them divided into teams of two.

He was a morale captain for the red team, and the event left a mark on his life.

“It’s great to see college kids giving up a weekend to help raise money for kids they will never know or meet,” Fish said.

Senior Tabitha Timbrook, faculty, staff and graduate student relations chair, was also a morale captain last year.

“Dance Marathon inspired me,” Timbrook said. “I got to see what simple college students could do and make a difference in someone’s life.”

This year, there are an estimated 500 students participating, Leiss said.

“There will be three different comedians to start off,” Leiss said. “Then there will be a superhero costume contest, where miracle children will come out with costumes of their own.”

An inspirational speaker will come and speak to the dancers after the contest.

“He will come to remind them why they stand,” Leiss said.

Leiss was unable to provide who will be speaking and performing.