THON 2016: What’s In Your Fanny Pack?

Anyone who’s anyone at Penn State knows what THON is — it’s just fact. Students wait year round for these 46 hours of excitement, joy and exhaustion. Anyone who’s anyone also knows that being a dancer at Thon is a highly-coveted honor and only a lucky few are allowed. In order to survive the rough 46 hours, a dancer knows that there is one essential item they simply cannot dance without — their fanny pack. Knowing this, Valley took to the floor to rub shoulders with some of these dancers and find out what’s in their fanny pack.

Senior PRSSA member Jess Savarese gave us a second of her time to tell us what was in her fanny pack. In it she had her phone, digital camera, chapstick, bouncy ball, water gun (obviously) and portable phone charger – the basics without being basic.

Senior Dancer Relations Committee member Steph Melvin was sporting a donut-covered fanny pack, sure to make all other dancers jealous for more reasons than one. While she unfortunately was donut-less, she did carry with her her phone, her dancer update form, gum, car keys, hand sanitizer and chapstick. “Only the best,” says Melvin.

Tanner Orndoff, Junior and FOTO member, carried with him, “An actual iPod classic!”, says Orndoff. We were excited, too. He also had his iPhone, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle gummies (sure to keep him energized) and some doodles that the kids drew for him. After all, this is FTK.

Junior Dancer Relations Committee member Colleen Aydelotte made sure to store in style by bedazzling her fanny pack. In it, she had her hand sanitizer (we’re noticing a pattern), handwipes, chapstick, a piece of candy, a pen and her phone.

Lastly, while finishing up our rounds on the floor, we stopped by to check out Senior Adan Rider, an independent dancer. “Whatever this is,” says Rider, as he holds up a Lara Bar, followed by a Nature Valley bar, a Cliff bar, a deck of cards (in case a game of Go Fish is in the cards for him), a scavenger hunt made for him by his DRCM partner and his phone.

After a successful night of fanny pack-hunting, we can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us — there are too many fun accessories to keep track of! Make sure to keep following Valley’s THON coverage for more info.