Washington University’s Leading Together fundraising campaign will be aiming to raise an extra $300 million because it is approximately two years ahead of schedule. After the campaign reached $2.12 billion in funds raised in December 2015, Washington University’s Board of Trustees voted to increase the 2018 Leading Together goal from $2.2 billion to $2.5 billion.

Despite venue constraints, Dance Marathon at Washington University in St. Louis celebrated its 16th straight year on campus this Saturday, raising a now-typical amount of more than $150,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network of Greater St. Louis.

With their enthusiasm for the annual event as high as ever, Washington University students participating in this year’s Dance Marathon raised $151,963.11 by 2 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, Nov. 10 for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. This year marks the 15th iteration of Dance Marathon at Wash. U. and also the highest-raising marathon in Wash.

This year’s Chimes Junior Honorary’s week encourages students to share personal stories while focusing on the theme of empathy in order to help foster a greater sense of connection within the Washington University community. “Empathy can help bring us together as a student body,” junior and Chimes member Courtenay Willcox said.

Construction on the Danforth Campus escalated over the summer to one of the most widespread face-lifts Washington University has seen in recent years. And due to the University’s ongoing billion-dollar fundraising campaign funding many of the changes, officials say the yellow caution tape around campus won’t be disappearing anytime soon.

Strolling down the track, fighting with plastic robots or breaking the rules of a silent rave to belt out “Call Me Maybe,” hundreds of students gathered on Francis Field Saturday night for Washington University’s annual Relay For Life. The event, which ranked fifth in fundraising among all college Relays, raised $212,814.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton first learned how to ask people for money while working as a young paperboy in Florida charged with soliciting money from subscribers. “I realized how hard it is to collect money, even for good service,” Wrighton said. “Back in those days you couldn’t pay on the Internet and that kind of thing.

In the wake of the disaster in Japan, it is clear that the citizens of the United States are not giving monetary support as generously as they did for other natural disasters in the past several years. Philanthropic donations from the U.S. one week after the earthquake and tsunami amounted to approximately 25 percent of what was given to Haiti in the same time frame.

Relay for Life’s newly introduced fundraiser has helped make Washington University’s Relay one of the most successful Relay programs in the nation. The fundraiser, called $48K in 48 Hours, raised more than $30,000 for Washington University’s upcoming Relay for Life. The event lasted from 10 p.m. on Feb. 16 to 10 p.m. Feb. 18.

The Swamp was filled on Sunday with volleyball teams vying for bragging rights and raising money to make one girl’s dream come true at the Chi Omega Classic.