What happens in State College every February is pretty spectacular.

Penn State students gather together at the Bryce Jordan Center for a 46-hour dance marathon. Thousands offer their talents and time to raise money for pediatric cancer research and treatment.

The scope of the effort is difficult to overstate. A central structure of 14 committees, each chaired by roughly 20 students, organizes the logistics of the event, planning communications, entertainment, merchandising and other support functions necessary for the massive undertaking.

Most of the participants, however, are not part of this central organization. Of the 15,000 students who volunteer, a majority belong to other student organizations, participating in Thon as representatives of their groups.

Through this framework, thousands get involved in a cause they would unlikely find themselves supporting otherwise. Students with interests ranging from political activism to pre-professional personal development contribute to a broad effort to make the world better.

This community effort is what makes Thon so remarkable. As individuals, the volunteers could not have raised this year’s record $12.3 million. But as a community, combined social and personal capital is pushed in one direction, with multiplying returns and major impact.

Compared to this effort, Pitt’s charitable efforts pale in comparison. Pitt Dance Marathon is ridiculed. Greek Sing, while more popular, generates only a fraction of the enthusiasm generated by Thon.

This gap can be attributed to many things. Penn State has more students and arguably a more spirited student body, fostered through consistent years of Big Ten athletics. Thon has a couple of decades on Pitt’s charitable efforts too, so time has ingrained it deeper into the social fabric.

These things can’t really be changed. But Pitt does have a wide, diverse body of student groups. We have a foundation of interested and passionate students. Like Penn State, there is a network of social and personal capital.

Thus, the state of Pitt Dance Marathon and Greek Sing can’t be blamed only on “typical” Pitt problems. Part of the blame must be placed on the programs’ complete lack of utilization of the Pitt social network.

Unlike Thon, our programs are designed and run entirely by Pitt’s tiny Greek community. Few, if any, cultural or social organizations offer their time or talents. Instead of combining all of us to unite for something we otherwise wouldn’t, a couple of sororities and fraternities cobble together something they should be doing anyway.

This is not to say an invitation to Pitt’s social groups would immediately be met by extreme enthusiasm. Student leaders would need to get fully behind any plan. A broad consensus, built beyond the confines of Greek Life and the William Pitt Union, would be necessary to support any broader outreach programs.

Who knows what these programs would look like? They might be dancing based, but they might follow the Greek Sing model. They could be entirely different.

But a movement toward the Thon organizational structure would put us in the right direction. Continued investments in Greek Sing and Pitt Dance Marathon that ignore this potential source of enthusiasm not only contribute the perception that Pitt is philanthropically mediocre, but most alarmingly, ignore a huge potential source of enthusiasm that could be put toward objectives that are positive for the common good.