THON
LARGEST STUDENT-RUN PHILANTHROPY IN THE WORLD AT PENN STATE
Palos Verdes local Nicco Rosato’s THON journey unknowingly began as he started high school. One of his closest friends, Jordan, had just been diagnosed with epilepsy after experiencing multiple epileptic seizures. Jordan was very lucky to have a family that could financially afford his medical bills, but Nico and his friends realized there are so many families out there that can’t. Because of this, Nicco, Jordan, and their entire friend group founded S3 Charity for Epilepsy to support epileptic children in the Los Angeles area, as well as to raise money for important epilepsy research.
As Nico approached his senior year of high school, he started looking at Penn State University for college, and his passion for public service caught the eye of Penn State’s Dean of the College of Communications, Marie Hardin, who remembered reading his essay about working with S3. When Nico had the chance to visit the school, Dean Hardin made a point to introduce me to THON.
THON is the largest student run philanthropy in the world and is dedicated to providing emotional and financial support to families battling a child’s cancer, as well as funding critical cancer research. THON Weekend is one of the most celebrated aspects of life at PSU with over 16,500 student volunteers working year-round to put on a 46-hour no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon. Excited by the opportunity to continue his philanthropy work at this level, Nico decided to attend Penn State and do everything he could to get involved with THON.
Now in his fourth year as a THON volunteer, Nico currently serves as THON’s Media Relations Lead, managing press on a local, regional, and national level. Although THON is well known in Pennsylvania and throughout the Northeast, Nico shares “I’m excited to be in a position where I can expand THON’s reach, even as far as California.”
For more information about THON feel free to visit their website: https://thon.org
