From glow sticks to colorful strobe lights and B-boys to a dancing cow, Sacramento State’s student advancement council kicks off the first dance marathon.

“Glow For Good” dance marathon took place Oct. 17 with the party going from 6 p.m. to midnight. The alumni center welcomed students to a place of fun and excitement but for a good cause.

The event was created to help raise money for the student emergency grant fund. The night proved to be a success raising over $16,000, according to the Hornet Pride Challenge Facebook page.

Puukani Tiwanak, 20, and one of the Student Advancement Council leaders, said the grant is helpful to those students who experience some kind of emergency and are unable to pay for their school fees.

The grant assists anyone who may need it and is not just limited to one student.

The marathon had partnerships with a few places like Chik-fil-A and Go-Girl energy drinks, both offering free food and refreshments at the event. Other partnerships included ASI, student affairs, and Phi Sigma Sigma sorority.

Breakdancing group, Beats, Rhyme and Culture got on the dance floor as the first performers for the night, hyping the crowd with their acrobatic dance moves and humor.

John Cao, a 22-year-old business major, and Erik Cha, a 20-year-old civil engineering major, both dancers in the group, said they enjoyed the event overall.

“We were going to keep dancing but they stopped the music,” Cha said.

Others that were on the list to perform were Sac Modern dance group and the salsa group Ritmo Salvaje. In between the performances, DJs Mappquest and Brian played music for students to get up and head to the dance floor. Many even got up to do the Cupid Shuffle and the Cha Cha Slide.

The event was an idea proposed about a year ago and Angelica Carrazco, one of the student advancement council leaders, was able to contribute to the idea of starting a dance marathon here at Sac State.

When it came down to choosing ideas, it was brought up that UC Riverside has a dance marathon for their Guardian Scholar progam, Carrazco said.

As the night continued, there were booths along the walls of the room where students could go and participate in games like Twister, and Phi Sigma Sigma had a booth where students could do target practice.

One of the highlights of the night was when three contestants participated in a shake it contest. Each of them had a Kleenex box filled with ping pong balls tied to their backside and whoever was able to shake out most of the ping pong balls won the game.

Those who participated in the games were able to receive raffle tickets, or purchase one with just one dollar. There were at least $25 gift cards for the winners of the raffle drawings.

Although the grant can not be applied for yet, the Student Advancement Council believes that it is important for people to donate.

“It’s students helping other students,” Tiwanak said.

Students are able to get more information about the student emergency grant by going to the Hornet Pride Challenge page on Facebook.