BuckeyeThon Fashion Show took place on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at the Ohio Union in the Archie Griffin Ballroom. This year’s event will take place Thursday. | Credit: Courtesy of OSU Student Life
As fall fashion month comes to a close Ohio State students are partnering up with local kids for the annual BuckeyeThon fashion show Thursday.
Created by the Ohio State student organization, BuckeyeThon, the fashion show brings students and BuckeyeThon Kids – many of whom are patients at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital – together on the runway to raise awareness for pediatric cancer and the group’s philanthropic work.
Colin Quinn, president of BuckeyeThon and a fourth-year in biology, joined the organization his freshman year after losing a friend to pediatric cancer in the sixth grade. Quinn said the fashion show is very inspiring and meant to attract students who are not involved.
“The fashion show is one of our most inspirational events because we try to focus on highlighting kids from the hospital,” he said. “These different events, the goal is to target a diverse group of students who normally aren’t involved with BuckeyeThon.”
The evening will feature food from sponsors such as Fusian and performances by student dance group Movement Variations and Ohio State Jump Rope. The fashion show will showcase students and kids wearing donated clothing from companies such as Homage, Vineyard Vines and Figleaf Boutique.
Overseeing the event is Miranda Koewler, director of events for BuckeyeThon and a third-year in strategic communications.
Koewler said that since registration for the BuckeyeThon Dance Marathon in February closes in mid-November, the fashion show is also a way to encourage people to sign up and learn more about BuckeyeThon as a whole.
Last year, BuckeyeThon raised more than $1.5 million for the hospital.
“The fashion show is really a way to maintain our presence on campus and show we are really working together the entire year long; it’s not just something that shows up in February,” Koewler said. “The show itself is not really much of a fundraising focus for us. Our goal is more to inform, create connections and show that BuckeyeThon is fun.”
Koewler said that apart from seeing the kids interact with students, she is also looking forward to making a “big announcement.”
“We want to keep this pretty low-key before the fashion show,” she said. “But it’s something about increasing our impact at the hospital.”
And with the slogan, “Students impacting kids, kids impacting students,” the fashion show and BuckeyeThon in general aim to increase the lives of local children battling cancer.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to hopefully change the lives of kids everywhere because we believe every kid deserves the chance to be a Buckeye,” Quinn said. “But these kids are also really impacting our lives and making our college experience an incredible, incredible journey.”
The BuckeyeThon fashion show will take place Thursday at the Ohio Union Archie Griffin Grand Ballroom. The event is free for all registered BuckeyeThon team members and $5 for non-team members. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Thursday.
