Get your dance on at Kennedy’s Mini Dance Marathon this Friday, April 8.

“The Mini Dance Marathon is an annual event that the Key Club holds at Kennedy to raise money for cancer patients and research at the University of Iowa, and so all of the funds that we raise here end up going towards there big dance marathon,” Sydney Rieckhoff, sr., Vice President, said.

The marathon is being held from 8 to 11 pm and it costs $10 to buy a ticket. That ticket gets you entered into raffle drawings to win various prizes like a free one-night stay at the Marriott Hotel.

Hoping that they can get 100 people to attend, the Kennedy Key Club is aiming to raise $3,000.

“It’s important to raise money because it’s for a great cause and it brings a pretty diverse group of individuals to dance for a common good,” Rieckhoff said.

This year the Best Buddies will join the marathon for the first time.

“We’re really excited about them attending because they came in kind of at the last minute and I think it’ll really contribute to the overall atmosphere of the dance,” Rieckhoff said.

The 30 buddies and their helpers will all be in attendance at the dance marathon.

“The Best Buddies club is always looking for fun activities to do, to promote friendship and inclusion throughout Kennedy,” President Meghan Smith, sr., said.

The Mini Dance Marathon allows students to have a fun time dancing with their friends while raising money as well.

“It’s a good opportunity to give back and we’re constantly looking for ways to not only promote Best Buddies at Kennedy, but also other volunteer organizations,” Smith said.