For the past six years, our Villanova community has gathered together for the ultimate celebration of life, magic, and optimism: NOVAdance. The theme of this year’s NOVAdance was “Make Today Your Masterpiece,” a call for all participants to embrace the endless glimmers of happiness that exist within each day. It encourages us to wake up each morning and approach life with the message of our namesake, Andrew McDonough: be positive.

This year’s NOVAdance surpassed any of my expectations, allowing our campus to better understand the beauty that resides within every facet of life. With the support and generosity of our students, faculty members, families, friends and so many others, we were able to raise $522,316.43 for the kids. In other words, we have alleviated the financial burdens of over 522 families who are struggling with the effects of childhood cancer.

Words cannot begin to explain the joy that radiated throughout Jake Nevin Fieldhouse on Saturday and the memories from those twelve hours will continue to flood my mind for a very long time. It’s the smallest flickers of elation that mean the most to me: the beaming smiles of our B+ Heroes, the warmest hugs exchanged between people who were once strangers, the cheers coming from the crowd during the most intense lip sync battle and so much more.

Too often, we take our daily blessings for granted, but NOVAdance and The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation display just how important it is to look around and realize that others are not so fortunate. To say that these families are brave would be an understatement. These families are resilient, inspiring, hopeful, courageous and beautiful. It is their positivity that anchors our fundraising efforts, and they are the reason behind every single thing we do.

We  NOVAdance for these families. We NOVAdance for more birthdays. We NOVAdance for more smiles. We NOVAdance for more research grants. We NOVAdance for Andrew, Correll, Danny, Ellie, Frankie, Jack, Jibby, Lilly, Nathan, Rebekah, Sebastian and Tony. We NOVAdance for a cure.