Morale committee keeps spirits high for 36-hour event

Chairs slide across the tiled floor, and papers shuffle. Students clad in sweatpants, T-shirts and gym shoes shuffle into the brightly lit basement of Kappa Delta sorority, laughing and making wisecracks. The mood is light and the students greet each other with warm smiles and hugs. They are here to learn a line dance. \nNo, this is not a country line-dancing club, it is one of IU's Dance Marathon committees, and these students are the heart and soul of the marathon. They are Moralers.\nIUDM's Morale Committee is a little-known group of students that help to organize the marathon benefiting Riley Children's Hospital every year. Responsible for creating the dance that gives the marathon its name, these individuals have a very special task. \nThey are in charge of keeping up the spirit of more than 600 students for 36 hours straight.\n"We create the line dance, but we also organize games for the dancers to play during the marathon," said junior Lizzie Oldberg, a member of Delta Gamma, three-time marathoner and two-time member of Morale. "Our goal is to make sure that everyone stays up, and that everyone has fun."\nGames such as Twister, Survivor, Singled Out and Spin the Bottle are just some of the activities the Moralers have planned for this year's marathon this Friday through Sunday. But what does it take to be a Moraler?\n"It takes a very special type of person to take on this task," said junior Kyle Witham, a member of Alpha Phi sorority and a first-time Moraler. "The Moralers were what got me through the marathon last year."\nCommittee director and non-greek Kyle Dietz, a former member of the IU varsity cheerleading, describes himself as the epitome of a Moraler.\n"The personality of a Moraler is exactly like my personality," he said. \nThis is Dietz's third year with IUDM and, as the director, he is in charge of collecting donations, creating the line dance and organizing the activities of Morale. He delegates responsibilities to his committee members, but most of all, he works to inspire them to raise as much money as they can to go to Riley. \n"I love kids, and that's what it's really about," he said.\nOther Moralers take a less-organizational role, but they are inspired by the same forces Dietz described. \n"It's for the kids, and that's why I do it," said junior Andrew Meyers, a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. \nMeyers has been involved with the marathon for three years and decided to be a part of Morale because he said it looked really fun and the people have lots of energy.\nIn order to become a member of the Morale committee, the members have to go through a relatively intensive interview process. They begin by attending a chair-person call-out where they fill out an application in which they answer about six essay questions. The questions concern prior involvement at IU and what type of qualities the applicant has that exemplifies a Moraler. \nAfter the application process, the Moralers are interviewed in front of the Dance Marathon Executive Board and they are expected to dress up in a zany outfit for the interview. \nThe selection process for Morale is the most competitive of the committees.\nAs they gear up for this year's marathon, the excitement grows stronger, as does their love for IUDM and its cause. \n"Dance Marathon is my passion," Oldberg said. "I wouldn't want to be on any other committee than Morale."\n-- Contact staff writer Lindsay DeWitte at ldewitte@indiana.edu.