Last week, Villanovans represented red, orange and green, in addition to their usual blue and white.
NOVAdance’s four Morale Committee (MoCo) captains wore their respective team colors to boost student involvement during the week of Nov. 11, 2024.
NOVAdance is an annual 12-hour dance marathon that raises awareness and fights against pediatric cancer. The exact date for NOVAdance 2025 has not yet been announced.
NOVAdance is directly connected with the Andrew McDonough Foundation. After being diagnosed with pediatric cancer, Andrew McDonough learned he had a B+ blood type. His family continued to refer to the phrase, “Be Positive” during his treatment.
Now, “Be Positive” is the message and mission of the foundation. NOVAdance refers to children diagnosed with pediatric cancer as “B+ Heroes.”
“[The NOVAdance community] get[s] to provide all of these special moments for children that don’t get to have it all the time,” sophomore Angie Rodriguez, Morale Committee Color Team Captain, said. “We get to make sure that kids can be kids, and I think that’s something that’s so special that NOVAdance is able to do and accomplish, and I love that every single person that I work with wants the exact same thing of making sure that kids have those dreams and have those futures.”
Last week, NOVAdance’s Morale Committee (MoCo) sponsored a “Hype Week” to increase student participants.
“The goal for Hype Week is to spread the word to as many new students as possible who haven’t heard about NOVAdance yet or haven’t joined the Morale Committee, and to continue spreading the B+ message, as well as fundraising for our heroes,” senior Jack Doolin, Co-Executive Director for NOVAdance, said.Throughout the week, MoCo sponsored various activities specifically designed to increase NOVAdance participation and awareness. Each day was designated to a different event.
The week began with Monday’s “Where’s MoCo Monday?” where students searched for either the MoCo Chair or their color team captain in a striped “Where’s Waldo?” shirt.
On Tuesday, MoCo tabled outside the Connelly Center for “Tues or Dare.” Villanova students donated in return to pose a dare that a tabling MoCo member would complete.
A scavenger hunt for the MoCo trophy broke out around the entirety of Villanova’s campus this past Wednesday for the annual “Where’s the Cup Wednesday?”
“My favorite [event] was probably ‘Where’s the Cup Wednesday’ that we did on Wednesday,” senior Sam Blume, Morale Committee Chair, said. “This year, we have the brand new MoCo cup. On Wednesday, the MoCo team took the actual cup that we have, it’s, like, a two-feet printed trophy, and we carried it around different places on campus, and it definitely got a lot of stares for sure. It was a fun conversation starter, and one of the MoCo team leaders got a picture with Father Peter holding the cup, which was super fun. A lot of people were a little confused about it, but that really allowed us to spread awareness more and have some fun with it.”
The week continued with “Social Media Campaign Day” on Thursday. MoCo encouraged Villanova students to fundraise through emails, text messages and social media.
Students wore their NOVAdance merchandise around campus for Friday’s “Wear your NOVAdance Merch.” NOVAdance also sponsored a “Chopt Dine Out Day” for fundraising on Friday evening.
MoCo traveled to Philadelphia for “MoCo Canning” on Saturday morning. Members promoted the B+ message and received both Venmo and cash donations in Rittenhouse Square.
“Moco Mania” concluded Hype Week on Sunday evening. The Rowen Campus Green was filled with dancing, food, a variety of NOVAdance merchandise, music and games to help further promote the B+ mission.
“Being able to get involved in stuff like NOVAdance and find a community like NOVAdance through Hype Week I think is just so valuable and something that is just so special about Villanova,” Rodriguez said.
“NOVAdance is a place for everyone, and anyone who wants to be involved in this mission, however they wanna do that, we are excited to meet them and excited to help them support B+ heroes,” Doolin said.
“I hope that Villanovans take out of Hype Week that there are an unlimited amount of ways to get involved with NOVAdance,” Blume said. “We have so many opportunities, just like we did this past week, every single day. We have opportunities like those throughout the school year to get more involved, to tell their friends and share the B+ message with them. I really want people to understand that there is something in Morale Committee, specifically, for everyone.”
Morale Committee will continue to inform Villanovans about ways in which they can participate in NOVAdance or MoCo over the next coming weeks. Hype Week was merely the beginning of what’s to come.
