Daily Pioneer News

Floor director Scott Abing gives the cue to talent host Mike Jacyna as he talks with talent coordinator Andrea Rider.

PLATTEVILLE-On Dec. 5 and 6 the University of Wisconsin-Platteville held its 30th annual Christmas telethon in support of Wisconsin Badger Camp (WBC). The telethon, which is produced and hosted primarily by students at the university, helped to raise $66,212 for WBC. This is up $11,762 from last year's $54,450 which was raised.

All money raised from the weekend goes directly to the funding of camper ships and allows those who cannot afford to go to camp a chance to experience outdoor recreation, meet new friends and see old ones once again.

The weekend was filled with many visitors to the UWP campus to help "Celebrate." Alumni who had helped with the telethon in previous years came back to host a segment or run a camera during the alumni block. Many campers also came to the telethon and were interviewed.

Several different campus and local groups performed talent including UWP band and choir groups, the UWP Alchemist and Chemistry Club and community singers, dancers and performers.

Many campus organizations, fraternities and local organizations took time out of their busy weekend to answer phones, take bids and receive donations from viewers.

Much of the behind the scenes work was done months in advance by a group of core team members under the direction of Colleen Garrity, director of TV Services and Russell Hill, production manager. These students put all of the video footage together, ran controls and sound video, as well as cameras.

"This year was probably one of the smoothest running telethons we've put on," Garrity said. "The high technical standards made it look very professional."