Students from Belmont University’s Up ’til Dawn student organization could be seen all across the country on Saturday morning as they revealed their 2018 fundraising total for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on national television. The highly anticipated total, $146,180.78 — the highest since the student organization was founded on campus in 2015, was revealed live on Fox and Friends at 6:50 a.m. by the Up ’til Dawn Executive Board, led by Executive Director and Belmont senior Joe LaMartina.
More than 300 students were awake all night, celebrating their successful year in the Beaman Student Life Center with games, inflatables, a pizza party, dancing, sports, Zumba classes, special challenges and more. Students must create teams and raise at least $100 each to participate in the night’s festivities where they stay up in solidarity with patients and their parents who are awake all hours of the night during the height of their treatment at St. Jude.
This year, the group’s final total was more than $25,000 higher than their original goal, a feat LaMartina said he always dreamed of and was secretly hoping for. “Knowing the heart of Belmont students, I knew we could blow right past our goal of $120,000 and raise more than we ever thought possible,” he said. “These students are amazing, and it has been such an honor to serve as Executive Director of this year’s event.”
LaMartina, the focus of the national coverage, has a very personal connection to St. Jude and their work to cure childhood cancer. His 4-year-old little sister Lily was diagnosed with Precursor B Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in the summer of 2016, and though she’s now in remission and doing well, her treatment protocol will continue for another year and a half. Lily hasn’t been treated at St. Jude, as she doesn’t live in Tennessee, but LaMartina credits much of her health to the hospital’s willingness to share their research with other facilities across the country.
“I work so hard for Up ’til Dawn, simply, because I want to end childhood cancer,” LaMartina said. “I want no other child to have to go through what Lily has gone through. A child should be fighting for their dreams, not fighting for their life.”
Money has continued to pour in since the students unveiled the total on Fox and Friends and now, the running total has reached $148,170.56.
To watch the clip in its entirety, click here. To learn more about St. Jude and the Up ’til Dawn program, click here.
This event was the first of several in the symposium, which discussed topics such as Jesus and ethics, faith and race, religion’s place in the world and overcoming faith obstacles. In addition, McLaren and Dark moderated a songwriter’s in-the-round event that featured alumni Andy Gullarhorn and Jill Phillips, along with Sarah Masen and Sam Ashworth.
The event brought together young, diverse, collegiate men from Belmont’s Bridges to Belmont program and Tennessee State University’s Rho Psi chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. More than 20 young men were afforded the opportunity to meet and network with one another and engage with local professionals, entrepreneurs, educators and leaders from Nashville. The event introduced these young men to professionals who work in their desired career fields and potentially connect them with shadowing opportunities, internships, practicums and eventually full-time employment.
Since the inception of Redmond’s book club, a similar club has been instituted for girls with the same appetite for reading. These groups have become the most popular clubs at the school, and students are moving quickly through the books lined up for them. “It’s a blessing to be in this predicament, to have kids who are becoming ravenous readers,” Redmond said. “We’re disrupting the notion of what public education can be and what little black boys can do and be.”
In a continued tradition of community outreach and educational events, the College of Sciences and Mathematics (CSM) at Belmont University hosted a number of high school laboratory and science-based experiences for area students. The CSM faculty and staff are dedicated to introducing high school students to advanced laboratory techniques and the inter-connectivity found between the sciences, business, social sciences and the humanities. More than 200 students participated in the lectures, laboratory exercises and expositions throughout 2017. These STEM centered activities are slated for continuation in 2018 as high school students are given the opportunity to explore new, faculty-led laboratory exercises and take on the challenges of hypothesis-driven research.
One event hosted 45 A.P. Chemistry students from three different area high schools in an interactive lecture on titrations led by event organizer Dr. Danielle Garrett, assistant professor of chemistry education. The program also held a high school psychology camp thanks to Dr. Linda Jones’s senior capstone project. Jones, chair of the department of psychological science, led 20 A.P. Psychology students in week-long projects involving psychological experimentation techniques and statistical analysis. These students then designed their capstone project, which is required for graduation from Metro Nashville schools, with these tools in mind. Currently, all 20 students are utilizing borrowed equipment to run experimental subjects in their own high schools. Jones and her colleagues engage students monthly and the high school partners will present their findings at the Belmont Undergraduate Research Symposium in April.
Finally, Dr. Steve Murphree, biology professor, coordinates free laboratory experiences for the home-schooled community of Middle Tennessee and conducted two programs in 2017. In November, home-schooled children were able to investigate animal behavior during the program titled, “Explorations in Animal Behavior – Betta Fish.” In December, students were able to compare human anatomy to that of cartilaginous fish in an exercises titled, “Shark Anatomy.” In October, a group of 150 middle school students from Lead Academy Middle School toured Belmont’s science labs.