By Grette Buttner, Banner Staff

In 2016, beloved Winsor alumna Maggie Ryan ’12 was tragically killed in a car crash on her way home from her college graduation at Washington University. Her tragic passing left a wake of sorrow in the Winsor community as well as a keen desire to remember and continue the work that Maggie started at Children’s Hospital and in the Boston community. 

Before her passing, Maggie interned at Boston Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and worked as the dedicated chair of fundraising efforts benefitting the Children’s Miracle Network. In honor of Maggie’s devoted contributions to children’s hospitals, her brothers, Matthew, William, and Thomas Ryan, all students at the Belmont Hill School, began Party With a Purpose. 

As Ms. Villanueva, the current PWAP Club faculty advisor, explained, “[Maggie’s] brothers wanted to continue having dance marathons in her memory and to raise money for Boston Children’s Hospital.” Margaret Warren, the Winsor archivist, recalled fundraising methods over the years; “there were flower sales in 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024” and a “theater fundraiser by the cast of Game of Tiaras [Winsor-Belmont Hill  Play 2019], with all ticket proceeds donated to PWAP in 2019.” 

Since the founding of the club, PWAP’s flower and merchandise sales have accompanied their main dance marathon at Belmont Hill in March during which, as Lexi Pascucci ’26, one of the PWAP club leaders, described, “kids get to walk the runway and be really happy doing it as… they do not experience that many social events due to their [health].” Over PWAP’s six years of existence, the organization has expanded to include not only Belmont Hill and Winsor but also The Rivers School, Newton Country Day School, and Dana Hall School. It has raised over $160,000 for Boston Children’s since 2017,  providing a source of joy for the hospital and for the kids who enjoy the dance marathon. 

Ms. Villanueva emphasized the importance of remembering Maggie’s mission through PWAP, saying, “Though the aspect of raising money is still there,” sometimes students forget the memory of Maggie. “People need to know exactly what PWAP is and exactly why we started and continue to celebrate it.”