Clubs and extracurricular activities can often be shoved aside in the name of schoolwork, but Erin Ward’s devotion to the ultimate goals of Dance Marathon permeates the rest of her life. Ward, a second-year psychology student, just completed her second year on the Dance Marathon committee as community outreach and education director. To help the committee members better invest in their cause ““ pediatric AIDS awareness and prevention ““ Ward had children from one of Dance Marathon’s beneficiaries, Project Kindle, come to UCLA once a month to bond with the students. Project Kindle helps kids who have HIV/AIDS or have otherwise been affected by the disease to lead normal lives and participate in activities with other children.
“It was fantastic having them come,” said Christina Brown, a fourth-year physics and political science student and the Dance Marathon director. “They get to come for Dance Marathon, but this allowed them to interact with people in a less intimidating setting than Dance Marathon, where there are so many people. It was just a ton of fun to get to know them on a totally different level.”
Ward has also visited the Project Kindle’s camp branches in both California and the Midwest, inspiring other committee members along the way.
“She’s just so wise beyond her years. She has this incredible poise and passion about her that you can tell everything she’s doing and all the work she puts into Dance Marathon and everything in her life is for the cause. You can tell that she’s constantly driven by that, that it’s constantly in the back of her mind,” Brown said. “She’s doing it to help people, and I think that really sets her apart from other leaders.”