ATOs rock BGSU Greek and Student Life

The teams rocked out to local bands, kept a chair rocking for 12 hours and, of course, rocked their organizations’ letters.

The event marked ATO’s fourth annual Rock-a-thon with the slogan of “Rocking Away Cancer.”

“We have them rocking in a chair and rocking out to rock bands,” said Eric Young, one of three main event planners. “So we have people rocking literally and figuratively all night.”

The Rock-a-thon was a 12- hour event that started at 7 p.m. in which teams of three were responsible for keeping a single rocking chair rocking for the whole 12 hours.

Dan Lubin was in charge of sponsorship, donations and public relations for the event and said there is a reason they do an all-night event as opposed to an all-day event.

“We really wanted to offer an alternative to drinking,” Lubin said. “There’s a lot of things to do here and we hope that people can have a good night here without drinking.”

Aside from the teams of three, others could support the cause by purchasing a ticket to attend the event with a $5 donation. All event proceeds are donated to the American Cancer Society.

For the last three years, the event has typically raised about $1,200 a year, and this year their goal was $2,000, although the actual results for this year will not be in until the end of the week.

To kick off the overnight event, ATO invited Lauren Wolk to speak as a University senior and cancer survivor. The summer after her freshman year, Wolk was diagnosed with ovarian dysgerminoma and went through four sessions of chemotherapy before returning to school in August cancer-free.

Wolk shared a side to her survival story often overlooked.

“I told them about how the biggest thing for me was losing my hair. I don’t think people realize how much of your identity you put in your hair,” Wolk said. “The biggest day for me was when I was able to put my hair back in a ponytail.”

After Wolk shared her story, bands began to take the stage and played for almost the entire night.

“This year we wanted to have a lot more music than years past,” said Evan Haffenden, ATO’s philanthropy chair. “We have seven bands and one of our brothers playing tonight and they all perform anywhere from a half an hour to an hour.”

Haffenden said all the bands played for free, and one of the bands, Team Nate, donated the entire stereo system for the night so the fraternity wouldn’t have to rent one.

Aside from rocking chairs and listening to music, there was plenty for participants and visitors to do. There was an Xbox 360 hooked up, ATO set up “punch pong,” and there were board games set up as well.

Sophomore Latiffa Street was a first-time participant at the event and said she had a great time. Street and her Alpha Phi sisters brought a portable DVD player to watch movies on, read magazines, and hung out with each other the entire night.

“The event is really great. I got to meet a lot of new people,” Street said, “and it’s a great way to support the Greek community and get to hang out with your sisters.”