Dancing Benefits the United Way

A standing room only crowd of students, faculty, and St. Peter community members filled the Gustavus Adolphus College ballroom Friday, Nov. 2 to watch Gustavus students and faculty/staff members swing dance to raise money for the St. Peter United Way.

The event, “Dancing with the Profs 2,” featured six teams of one Gustavus student and one faculty/staff member. In preparation for the evening competition, the Gustavus Swing Club gave the teams dance lessons. The teams that competed in front of a panel of peer judges were as follows:

• Aaron Banks (Health and Exercise Science) and Carlie Mauss (Senior)
• John Clementson (Education) and Katelyn Johnson (Sophomore)
• Carolyn Dobler (Mathematics and Computer Science) and Jordan Hawkinson (Senior)
• Patricia Kazarow (Music) and John Bennetts (Junior)
• Scott Moe (Health and Exercise Science) and Justine Moses (Senior)
• Megan Ruble (Student Activities) and Luke Garrison (Junior)

The charismatic team of Patricia Kazarow and John Bennetts won the dancing competition. Aaron Banks and Carlie Mauss won the week-long coin drive.

This was the second annual “Dancing with the Profs” fundraiser for a local charity. This student-planned and -organized event raised nearly $2,000 last year for the American Red Cross and it is expected to raise more than $4,000 this year when added to the proceeds of the event’s companion online service auction that ends Nov. 10.

“When we came up with the idea last September, I never thought that two years later we would say that we raised over $5,000 dollars for local organizations. Knowing you can make a difference for many people in your time at Gustavus is a great feeling,” said student leader Mike Marcotte ’08. “CAB (the Gustavus Campus Activities Board) is planning on making ‘Dancing with the Profs’ an annual tradition here at Gustavus, so look for ‘Dancing with the Profs 3’ next November.”

Note: The Gustavus CAB-sponsored online service auction benefiting the St. Peter United Way is open now through Nov. 10, 2007 at 6 p.m. It is at: gustavus.edu/groups/unitedway. Go online and bid on services ranging from knitting, baking, art, babysitting, music, sports, to photography lessons.