SMC Drama in Burlington's Light the Night Walk!

Big news for the SMC Drama Club! A few weeks ago a reporter from the Burlington Free Press came into a drama club meeting to learn about our participation in Burlington's Light the Night walk, a fundraising event to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Check out the article here! Members of the club worked throughout the spring and summer to raise money, setting a goal of $1000, and that goal was met and passed before the walk on Friday night!

The SMC team, with Champ!

The Drama Club walked on Friday in memory of Patrick Devlin, the teenage son of our professor and advisor John Devlin. Pat had leukemia and passed away last fall after many months of treatment. Last spring we started raising money and thinking about causes like this with Almost, Maine, a senior exhibition project coordinated by Laura Michelle, at which we really started thinking about becoming a force not only on campus and in the world of theater, but in the world at large by raising money and awareness.

The memory banner that was carried on the walk

So, at long last, on Friday September 24th, 8 members of the club and John went to the waterfront landing in Burlington to show our support. There were a fair amount of people there, people who go to many such walks and marathons, or people who know someone with the disease, and lots of kids. We waited for a long time for it to get dark out and also for the lighted balloons to arrive. Yes, that's right! The reason the walks are called "Light the Night" is because all participants recieve a light-up balloon, with different colors signifying different things. We had all red balloons, being supporters, and our team recieved one gold balloon because we were walking in memory of Pat. Survivors carried white balloons.

We had to wait for the light-up parts to arrive because of some sort of glitch, but they did arrive thanks to a dedicated volunteer who drove halfway to Albany to get them!

 The volunteers could tell right away that the SMC Drama Club was an enthusiastic bunch. We were recruited to hold the big banner telling Burlington what everyone was walking for; we were first in the lineup right behind a police escort! They were glad to have us up front; our group and a high school team behind us cheered and got the attention of shoppers and diners all around on Church street, and got cars to honk for us :)

 Overall, it was a really great experience. I was really moved by the amount of people who donated to our team alone....and being in Burlington with all those people and all the balloons was moving as well. The complete total amount raised by everyone at the walk was $52,000!!! It felt good to really support such a great cause, especially when the community and SMC theater specifically were affected. Many, many thanks to all who donated! Hopefully this will be something the drama club continues and makes a tradition over the years!