Seniors Grant LeMay and Annie O’Brien are the 2026 Co-Executive Directors (CEDs) of NOVAdance. Both LeMay and O’Brien have been involved with NOVAdance throughout their time at Villanova, serving in different capacities throughout the past four years. While their stories are unique, they led to the same place: being the people behind the project.

NOVAdance fundraises and spreads awareness for the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation. McDonough battled a 167-day fight against AML Leukemia. McDonough’s blood type was B-positive, inspiring the name of the organization. 

His story and positivity inspire many students to get involved with NOVAdance, where student organizations are paired with B+ Heroes and Forever B+ Heroes, to celebrate the children and families who are battling or who have battled childhood cancer. 

LeMay joined the NOVAdance community in his freshman year and served as a Sidekick. Throughout his freshman year, he raised money for the organization, driving him to want to continue his involvement throughout his academic career. 

As a sophomore, LeMay was one of four Morale Committee (MoCo) color captains, and as a junior, he served as the Director of HR on the NOVAdance executive board. 

“Freshman year, I had no idea what NOVAdance was,” LeMay said. “One day in October [of freshman year], I walked into Bartley, and I was like, I was either going to go to the left or to the right, and I chose to go left. When I walked downstairs, I ran into my friend Parker, and I asked her what she was doing. She said she was applying to be a Sidekick. I had never heard of it. She told me, and I applied. So, I often think if I had not turned left, I do not know where I would be [now].”

For O’Brien, her involvement in NOVAdance began differently.

“I learned about NOVAdance from the Joe talk with Chi Omega as a new member,” O’Brien said.

Each year, Joe McDonough, Andrew’s father, comes to campus to talk to groups of students about the B+ Foundation. 

“I remember leaving the Joe talk with great appreciation for Joe and the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation,” O’Brien said. “I think it is just such a cool thing that his talking to people can [make] you feel connected to the organization almost immediately. That motivated me to attend the Day Of, and I remember being [there] as a freshman and looking around and being like, ‘I want to be one of the people who makes this happen.’”

After attending the Day Of as a first-year student, O’Brien applied to a committee member, serving as a member of the operations team her sophomore year and as operations chair her junior year. 

LeMay and O’Brien have been working since last Spring to ensure that this NOVAdance is both one of the most successful and enjoyable dance marathons yet. 

Their goal? To fundraise over $800,000 and to continue to spread positivity and the message of the B+ Foundation throughout the Villanova Community and beyond. 

“One of our main goals coming back to campus was to really execute our campaign ideas very strongly,” O’Brien said. “We boiled that down to having social media presence, on-campus presence, and kind of a bigger idea. Something new for each campaign that was going to incentivize people to want to participate.”

It was without a doubt that LeMay and O’Brien felt they were meant to aim for $800,000. 

“That was like, order one of business,” LeMay said. “We were just given the titles of CED, and we sat down and were like, ‘We have to.’”

So, they started planning. The CEDs came together with other members of the Media team, Campus Presence team and Mass Communication team during production meetings, which occur two weeks before every fundraising event.

“The idea was that, obviously, it is great if we can sit around and brainstorm for an hour and come up with whatever we can, but it is way more helpful for the [teams] to come up with ideas themselves and understand them well enough to be able to communicate them out,” LeMay said.

Another aspect of planning that had to come early? The location. This year, NOVAdance will occur in the Dixon Center on the Cabrini Campus. However, this change never scared the CEDs

“I think it’s been really an exciting transition, because it kind of opened the door for us to be able to do so many new things,” O’Brien said. “We have kind of thought throughout [the process] that the logistics will follow. So we solidified a couple of the main differences early on, being transportation, and we tried to think of some new ways to get people to Cabrini, so we are having some food trucks this year. We worked with our hospitality team to be able to execute some other fun, exciting things to make people want to come when it is a little bit farther off campus.”

The change in scenery is a positive in the eyes of LeMay and O’Brien, and to many members of the NOVAdance community.

“I think a lot of people felt that we had outgrown Jake Nevin last year, which just means that we are growing and continuing to grow, so I think that has been highly important to having those logistics follow, having people believing in this move,” O’Brien said. 

The theme for this year’s dance marathon is Camp NOVAdance, inspired by summer camp and the positive energy that comes alongside that. The themes were brainstormed by the Awareness team within the committee.

“They had come to us with a few different options, and what we said to them was ‘these are all great, and we will be there either way, so we really want you to choose a theme that you feel happy about, that you are able to wholeheartedly say you love this theme’,” LeMay said. “One of them was camp-themed. And, you know, secretly to ourselves, we were like, that would be awesome. We are going off campus, this would be like a nice way to tie that all in within the theme as well.”

There are many ways to become involved with NOVAdance, including being a Day Of Dancer or joining MoCo, Sidekicks as a freshman, Engagement Coordinators (EC) as a sophomore, junior or senior, a Hero Liaison for groups on campus who are paired with a Hero, a Team Captain for other groups on campus, or as a member of committee.  

“I would consider Sidekicks as like a NOVAdance 1000 [course],” LeMay said. “It is the base level of NOVAdance, and they are getting to learn a lot about what we do. The main goal for Sidekicks this year is to reach $100,000 by the end of the Day Of.”

Sidekicks is the freshman-only leadership opportunity, giving first-year students a unique chance to get involved with NOVAdance from the start of their Villanova journey. Upperclassmen can apply to be an EC. 

“If Sidekicks is NOVAdance 1000, then ECs is maybe an elective in the same major,” LeMay said. “With ECs, there are four task forces: fundraising, hero-focused, engagement and outreach. Every single EC will rotate between those four task forces throughout the year.”

The ECs and Sidekicks create a majority of decorations for Hero events throughout the year and the Day Of. 

Hero Liaisons work directly with the Family Relations team and the Heroes and their families, ensuring the families become familiar and comfortable with the organizations they are paired with. 

Team Captains then communicate the information provided by the committee with their chapters and organizations. They also help kickstart individual organization fundraising events. 

This year, LeMay and O’Brien are taking the role of a Dancer in a new direction.

“It is always something that has been kind of involved, but it is kind of like if you show up on the Day Of, you are a Dancer,” LeMay said. “This year, what we are pushing is that if you pre-register as a Dancer and pay your $10.00 before, you can pick up your shirt and your fanny pack [ahead of time]. You are all set, ready to go.” 

While there is a lot that goes into being CED and the entire year of NOVAdance, LeMay and O’Brien stay grounded through their “Whys.” 

“I always boil mine down to one all-encompassing word, which is community,” O’Brien said. “Not only has NOVAdance been a community for me on campus throughout all my four years, but it is so special to be able to build a community for other people. I think that this is a community for our B+ Heroes. Not only them, but also their families, their siblings, their parents, the people in their community. If I had to boil it down to one word, I always think of NOVAdance as a community, and it has been so rewarding to help build this community throughout my time here.”

LeMay feels similarly. 

“I think mine is, I would say it is for our forever B+ Heroes,” LeMay said. “I think something that we have started to do really well in the past few years is having events honoring them. We had Blair, and then we had Frankie [whose families are still more involved]. I think, and this is probably relatable for almost anyone who has lost a loved one in any capacity, the idea that there could be a room of complete strangers coming and taking two hours out of their Saturday to come and remember your loved one, I think, is so, so special.”

LeMay and O’Brien’s work is not yet done and will come to life on Saturday, March 28, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the Dixon Center at the Cabrini Campus.