Graduation Year:
1983
Penn State Major:
Advertising
THON Logo Design (Year/Theme):
1981 / Dance For Tomorrow
Bio
Marion majored in Advertising at Penn State, graduating in 1983. During her time at Penn State, she was very active in student organizations, including being the editor of La Vie, a University Park Undergraduate Association Senator, a writer for the Collegian, and a member of the Gamma Sigma Sigma sorority. Upon graduation, she spent twenty years in Paris, France, and speaks multiple languages. She is a specialist in global marketing and communications, and now works in this role along with graphic design at a startup company.
How has designing a THON logo impacted you after graduation from Penn State?
While THON may not have secured a job for me, it has created a lifelong impact. When I graduated college, I did not know how much THON, pediatric cancer, and France would mean to me, and even forty years later THON still plays a pivotal role in my life. It has truly been a piece of my life puzzle.
What was your inspiration for your THON logo design?
One of my most pivotal inspirations for the 1981 Logo is Marceau, a French mime, who used his acting skills to help save children in danger during the 1940s. If you notice on the logo, on half of the logo, Marceau’s pants have the Four Diamonds, representing that half the time someone is dancing in the darkness is to dance for a cure. The other half of the logo, or daytime, Marceau does not have diamonds on his pant legs. This is to symbolize that we will one day dance for joy when a cure to childhood cancer has been found.
What is your favorite THON memory?
My favorite THON memory is from THON 2018. I brought my friend, Patricia Blanc, who founded France’s Imagine for Margo organization which is also dedicated to raising money for a cure to pediatric cancer. Blanc’s daughter died at the age of 14 in 2010, and she has carried her daughter’s legacy on ever since. My favorite memory was bringing her onto the floor every hour when the Line Dance would start, and having her sit and chat with the Millard family about what she was trying to accomplish. THON in no small way helped my friend from France grow Imagine For Margo faster...they have now raised millions of dollars, helping French families in the same situation have hope.