Every March, fans of all ages, backgrounds, and ideas, come together over a common bond of basketball. March Madness is a basketball tournament involving 64 teams from all over the country. The title “March Madness” originally came from an Illinois high school official, but didn’t relate to the NCAA tournament until 1982. The game itself involves predicting what teams will beat others and who will win the entire tournament. People play with friends, family, peers and classmates, sometimes for prizes. It has captured the attention and hearts of many Americans and has become a staple of the spring season in the US.
As for Campolindo, many students are involved in this game. Freshman Kyle Pearlstein did the March Madness game with her friends. This was her first year doing it, and she decided to do it this year because her friends encouraged her. Pearlstein explained, “I play basketball and I tend to watch it a lot so it kind of made sense for me to do it.” Her selections for the “Final Four”, or the four teams that she thought would make it to the semifinals were University of Iowa, University of South Carolina, Uconn (University of Connecticut) and LSU (Louisiana State University). “I was pretty confident in my bracket until I realized that Iowa and LSU were playing each other… I don’t know what I was thinking.” said Pearlstein. For her first time making a March Madness Bracket, Pearlstein enjoyed playing with her friends.
However, some students play March Madness with their classmates. Freshman Alana Bacher played March Madness with her geometry math class, taught by Kristi Davis. Bacher spoke about her choice to play: “I don’t know anything about basketball, and I don’t really follow it, but my teacher said that she would give me a prize if I beat her, so I decided to enter.” For her selections, Bacher didn’t have a strategy or plan: “I just chose what the majority of the people chose. I ended up getting second place in my class so I guess it worked.” Bacher put the University of Connecticut as her winning team: “I was pretty confident in my bracket because my friends helped me pick it out”
On the other hand, students like Freshman Paige Williams decided not to participate in March Madness. “I didn’t do March Madness this year because I honestly didn’t have time”, says Williams. This is the case for many busy students at Campolindo. Williams explains that she has “never had an interest in March Madness”.
March Madness has captured the hearts of many Campolindo students and is a staple of the month of March around the country.
