On Jan. 23, NOVAdance held its annual B+ Ball which took place in the Villanova Room.
The ball aimed to raise awareness for NOVAdance, raise money and provide a space where Heroes and their families could come to create memories, spend time together and meet students involved with the organization.
This year, the family relations co-chairs, Reese Trowbridge and Dylan Cahill, worked to make the ball more Hero-focused.
“The core mission of the B+ Foundation and NOVAdance is that everything we do is for our B+ Heroes,” Cahill said. “Making the B+ Ball more Hero-focused seemed like a no-brainer.”
The Ball is an annual event hosted and planned by the Special Events team within the NOVAdance committee, composed of Hailey Rebak, Matthew Deucher, Cait Jhin and Francesca Ward.
“The goal of NOVAdance this year is to reach a record $800,000 raised this school year, and we knew that for this to happen, we needed the Ball to be bigger than ever,”Deucher said. “We loved [the idea of involving more Heroes] and quickly began brainstorming how we can do this and decided on emphasizing the amount of work that our Hero Liaisons do with the Heroes.”
While appearing effortless to those in attendance, the Ball did not occur overnight.
“The planning process was about three months,” Deucher said. “[It] involved a lot of extra work to make sure details were ironed out.”
The organizations that are matched with Heroes on campus all have Hero Liaisons, who communicate with the Heroes and their families, and connect the Heroes with their organization.
Senior Alexandra Schuster has been one of the Hero Liaisons for Chi Omega for the past two years since it was matched with their Hero, Julia.
“Being a Hero Liaison to Julia and the Siegfried family has truly changed my college experience,” Schuster said. “It means so much to me that I am able to be a part of their lives and make a difference not only to them but to all families battling childhood cancer.”
Schuster was also in support of the change to make the Ball more Hero-focused.
“Having the B+ Ball become more Hero focused just shows what our mission is all about,” Schuster said. “Showing people how much our Heroes mean to us, and how deep our connections are with every single one of them, proves that we NOVAdance for them and want to celebrate them every chance we get.”
This year, the Hero Liaisons for the Heroes who attended the Ball gave speeches dedicated to their Heroes.
“My favorite moment from the B+ Ball was watching five of our Chi Omega sisters perform a parody of ‘Golden,’ a K-Pop Demon Hunters song, for Julia,” Ella Johnson said, a Chi Omega Hero Liaison. “This showed me how even though my fellow Hero Liaisons and I have gotten to know Julia best, her light has spread throughout the chapter of Chi Omega, and our sisters are willing to go to great lengths to celebrate her.”
The connections between the organizations and their Heroes are unique and differ from Hero to Hero, yet what stays the same is the love they all have for each other.
“Showcasing the beautiful relationships [Heroes] have with their Liaisons and paired organizations truly captures the heart of NOVAdance,” Annie O’Brien said, Co-Executive Director of NOVAdance.
In addition to the surprise speeches, the Ball featured a raffle, a merch sale and a section where Heroes and their families could play games.
This year’s NOVAdance raised the most money out of all the B+ Balls in years past, and it was put towards the $800,000 goal.
To Cahill, working closely with the Heroes and their families for the entire year has made his experience in this position rewarding.
“Being able to support the special relationships with Heroes and their organization is incredibly meaningful,” Cahill said. “Maybe a Hero is having a rough day with treatment or struggling at school. Having a place like Villanova to come to, where they can spend time with their organization, Hero Liaisons and friends, can mean everything. The smiles that come make all the hard work worth it.”
This year’s 12-hour dance marathon is set to occur on March 28, on Villanova University Cabrini campus.
The Villanova community is invited to see the work the NOVAdance committee, Hero Liaisons and other members of NOVAdance have put in over the year and to meet the Heroes who have made an impact within their Villanova organizations.
