Maddie Hill Game is Smashing Success

Hill was a Penn State York student majoring in human development and family studies, a Penn State York Benefiting THON member, a Four Diamonds Child, Blue & White Society member, and an inspiration to everyone she met, according to members of the York THON group and York campus faculty and staff.  In the days that led up to her death, Hill studied and did classwork from a bed in the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.

 

A 2015 graduate of Dover High School, Hill was an outstanding soccer player and athlete. Penn State York does not have a women's soccer team so when discussion began about what to do to honor her, Terri Van Slyke, a former admissions counselor and former Penn State York women's basketball coach, and Jeff Barkdoll,  athletic director at the campus, suggested honoring her at a basketball game. The York THON group agreed, and she was honored for the first time at a Dec. 2, 2016, event.

 

During the games, the women came ready to play, beating Berks with a 28 point difference wth a final score of 75-47. The men also kept the steam going, blazing through the first half with ease and finishing off the game with a score of 89-73.

 

Between the games, family and friends of Hill were invited onto the court to spread messages of rememberance and hope as people donated to THON. At the end of the event, a total of $1,216 was raised for kids fighting cancer, the main focus of Penn States yearly THON event.  Thank you to all who contributed in this ongoing effort in funding comprehensive care and critical research in the fight against childhood cancer. Let's "fight like Hill" against childhood cancer!