 The best part of PUDM is being able to look around the gym and look at the crowd of kids who have stayed there with you that whole time and have committed to being there for that 18 hours. Looking out into that crowd it is the most touching thing. It is something that is so selfless and humbling and so beautiful to get to see you and all of your best friends coming together for a big event like that. When I entered PUDM as a freshman it was mostly because I knew that my sister was involved in it and she talked it up so much that I was like okay well this has to be good I guess. PUDM stands for the Pretty University Dance Marathon. It's our largest student-run organization on campus but we raise funds and awareness for Riley Hospital for Children all year round and it's a part of a larger Asian-wide movement run by Children's Miracle Network. I'm the president of PUDM this year. My overall job is to oversee all the operations within the organization. We get to hear from a lot of Riley families which is amazing because it really brings people back down to earth and shows them what exactly they're fighting for and what we've been planning for for the whole year. We get to hear from Riley professionals that tell us about their research, the different areas of the hospital that we're funding. My experience with PUDM will affect me for the whole rest of my life. I feel like I've learned a lot of personal lessons about myself. I've had the chance to grow with an organization and make my way through different areas of it to see where I can apply myself and how I can grow personally, professionally. I've learned how to make deeper connections with people, be more genuine. I've had the opportunity to meet so many peers of mine who make me want to be more generous and make me want to give back more. Meeting those Riley kids is so, so special because they are just the most genuine and the sweetest and the bravest people in the world. When I was a senior in high school, I was diagnosed with a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma called T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. I received treatment at Riley. The treatment for that is two and a half years of chemotherapy. The last year and a half of that was less intense than the first year, so I was able to come to Purdue. And those experiences also convicted me towards PUDM and wanting to fundraise for Riley just because I know how much it matters for not only the organization but also Riley itself. I'm a part of the Morale Committee through PUDM. Our goal each year is to create the dance that everyone learns at the Dance Marathon. We get split up into different color tracks and each color gets to create the dance for part of the mix that we make. I have the opportunity to be a conductor for Morale. With that, I have new members for Morale that I help steward and motivate and get them acclimated to what Morale is and PUDM as a whole. When I joined PUDM, it was a great outlet for me to become a feeler with an organization and also meet new people, especially coming out and still being on treatment at that time, seeing the passion these people had for an organization that helped me so greatly. I was really appreciative just to begin with. And it was really easy for me to connect with them. They're going to be friends for life. When I first came to Purdue, I didn't know what I wanted to do. So I started off on the pre-med track. I joined PUDM because my friends convinced me to. And after going to one meeting, I really felt like it was the place to be. It felt like a home a little bit. After time, after making a lot of friends and connections, I really found my community there. In PUDM, I'm the Riley Relations Executive. So I essentially act as the bridge between our Riley families from Riley Hospital for Children and our members of Purdue University against Marathon. If a committee member and a kiddo are paired together, they're kind of with them through the entirety of their stay there, knowing that they have someone that they trust and that knows their way around the correct and can get help if there's need for that. My favorite part of the entire night of the marathon is when I walk up with the kiddos and I take them to the stage, seeing the kiddo get the courage to go up there and do their thing when they come off stage and they're so happy and smiling and they know they did a great job. I know that they did a great job and giving them that little high five, that little hug. And just knowing that they had a great time, it's more than enough for all of us. Sometimes I think of my friends being my little home at PUDM. It's just made it feel really cozy being here at Purdue. Last couple of hours is always really crazy because you're running off the hype before almost there and whole year of hard work is coming to a close. These are all my best friends. I love like having the chance to spend a big event like this with them because they make it so easy to like fall in love with it. I'm definitely very tired but it's very rewarding to know that like we made such a huge impact in only 18 hours and that it was like a celebration of all the hard work that we succeeded in for the whole rest of the year. So I feel very good.