The annual March Madness tournament began on March 24. This year was the first time students joined teachers in the brackets. Principal Keri Harrington united biology teachers Stephanie McAleer, Julie Gardner and English teacher Alyssa Hetrick in 2023 to work to make this to become an annual tradition.
For the first time this year, students helped to fill in the brackets not taken by teachers.
“We shook the teacher tree as many times as we could, and in the end, we only had 60 teachers, not the 64 we needed,” James Krug said. “Originally, I had wanted to do a field of 32 teachers and 32 students, but [Stephanie] McAleer and Keri Harrington thought that wouldn’t be best. There might be some rivalries and hurt feelings.”
The Climate and Culture Squad reached out to the senior class officers, and when they passed on the opportunity, they reached out to Principal Andy Neely for permission to add students.
“We reached out to four senior boys who are not only well known, but they’re all friends with each other, so that would reduce the chances of there being rivalry or some hurt feelings,” Krug said. “We had to go to Mr. Neely for his approval, and at first he was a little unsure, but, to his credit, he said okay, and the guys have been great sports about it.”
There have been both paper brackets and online brackets where voters could guess who would win. Winners of the closest bracket will win a variety of prizes. Bracket winners who land in the top five will receive a VIP movie of the first place winner’s choice, popcorn and depending on the placement they will get to invite one to 10 friends, the higher placement the more friends. First place will also get their name and grade on the March Madness student trophy.
Round One of the competition started March 24 and ended on March 27. Round Two of the competition started Tuesday April 1 and ended on Wednesday April 2, the Sweet Sixteen Round occurred Thursday April 4 through Friday April 5. The Elite Eight was on April 7 and the Final Four was on April 9.
The 64 competitors dwindled down to the Sweet Sixteen, with donations going to Altoona food drive. $1 equaled two votes for the teacher. In the El Dorado Region Patrick McKinney and Megan Yingling swiftly took out their competitors Will Sankey and Julie Buggey. The Juniata Region brought two upsetting outcomings. D’angelo and Harper both just barely get by their competitors Marasco and Frailey.
March Madness started in 2008 with what was called Astronomy Madness. It would have 64 teams that were often science or astronomy themed. They’d have constellations, space missions, etc.
“Then me and a buddy of mine, Mr. Brannas would throw chips into a hat and randomly pull one out to represent the winner,” said Krug.
Students learned a little bit about math and probability while getting extra credit from 2008-2023. In 2023, the Climate and Culture Squad did the first teacher version. The very first year, they did 32 teachers on one side and 32 school lunches on the other side
“It became too much for me to do both Astronomy Madness and high school March Madness,” Krug said. “So I dropped Astronomy Madness after a long and storied run, and we went to March Madness. I love trophies. I have made and bought many over the years. I rebranded the student trophy, I got these done with a Shield’s Trophy. Students voted their winners and then the cool thing was the winning school lunch. I talked to the Metz cafeteria, and they were willing to serve an extra bonus lunch. And so not surprisingly it was a mashed potato bowl. So we got an extra mashed potato bowl.”
Krug also makes the brackets and set the seed ranks on popularity; he tried to make the opening rounds to have good rivals.
“I also try to set it up so certain people who win in the next round or two will also get really good rivalries,” said Krug. “For example, in the Sweet Sixteen, I’m so excited because we had Mr. Harber versus Mr. Frailey. They’re both good friends, and they run games club together. We hd Mr. Bennett versus Mr. Harpster. They run tech ed together. Then we also had Miss Buggy versus Miss Yingling from phys ed. So we get some really nice matchups. I think when Falger won it, she was a 15 seed. So seating isn’t always that important. Teachers are always really good sports. We’ve never had any hard feelings about it. Once it gets going, we kind of divide jobs.”
McAleer updated the March Madness website and also handled the calendar. Gardner had permission to email all the students and she made the Google Forms for voting. Krug maintained the bracket that was on the bridge, and the one on the website for the student challenge and wrote the morning announcements. Then Prugar did round by round previews for the teachers.
“I work a lot with McAleer and Gardner, the three of us work really well together, and it’s a pretty big process,” Krug said. “Probably in about mid February, McAleer sends out an interesting email to teachers if they want to be in the tournament. We don’t force everybody to. For some teachers, it’s not their cup of tea. Then, once we have everybody who wants to do it, I make the bracket myself. It’s really fun.”
“This year, we’ve had a lot of hype because Marasco and Baker shot a really nice edit for MLTV,” Krug said. “Mr. Baker helped us out with that. We also have squad members and student council members starting in the Sweet 16, collecting money at lunch time for extra votes, and then that raises money for the Altoona food bank.”
Students usually pick their favorites, but they also try to get their own teachers to move forward, to ensure they get the party. The teacher hang flyers over the entire school to get their names around, and students will tape them to their T-shirts and wear them and advocate for their teachers.
“Sometimes a student might have a lesser known teacher, but in the other game, there’s a really popular teacher going,” Krug said. “The students might vote for that other teacher’s opponent, because if that teacher loses, it increases their own teacher’s chances of moving on. So there’s strategy that way. There’s a lot of camaraderie. We need to do things to improve pride here in the school and to try to increase the climate of the school. It’s been really amazing to see teacher flyers literally over the entire school.”
Sankey was the last senior involved within March Madness. He and his friends were all against each other until Sankey pulled through and lost to McKinney.
“It was fun,” Sankey said. “I didn’t take it really seriously, but it was a good opportunity to get my name out there.”
Even with the tough competition, he didn’t advertise and believed it was a fun time and a way to get his name out in the school.
“It was a little friendly battle,” Sankey said. “I mean, we’re all good friends, so whenever we went up against each other, it was sort of [like], I’m going to win, no I’m going to win. So we had fun with it. It’s tough. I mean, there’s a lot of good teachers in this school, a lot of well liked teachers, so I didn’t really have that thought in my mind so we’re just seeing how far I can get, and have fun with it.”
The elite eight made a total of $271 making the food drive money almost up to $500. Even with extra votes with money two big upsets came around to make the final four.
Bennett pulled a win over 1-seed McAleer and Yingling pulled over McKinney.
Saboe dominating 4-seed Wilt and D’Angelo took over Harber in a flash.
“I’m loving it,” Yingling said. “I have had such a fun time making posters and just having a good time at work. I honestly don’t know, I’m up against some tough competition. I mean, who doesn’t love McKinley.”
“Very excited and nervous at the same time,” Bennett said. “I thought I had a pretty good chance.”
All four predicted what money they thought they might get. Almost all four underestimated the money pulled in. Yingling predicted $10 but really got $13, while her competitor Saboe got $8. D’Angelo believed he would get $20 and really got $42 while Bennett believed since last round he got $61, he would get more money.
“They all had some who they believed would win it all,” Bennett said. “I’m heard a lot of Yingling, while Yingling believed it could be D’Angelo, and D’Angelo said it’s also Yingling in favor of winning.”
“I don’t think I’m going to win as a competitor, as an athlete and a competitor I have to firmly believe I am going to win,” D’Angelo said. “So yes, I know I’m going to win. The money issue is a concern for me. Bennett’s kids have really been loading up his jar but the money goes to a good cause. It’s always been my dream to be a part of a final four of some sort, a dream come true.”
The final two were Yingling and D’Angelo, swimming and PE against health in a fight for the trophy and prize for their students. Yingling gave out candy to her students if they voted for her.
The total amount of money made for the Altoona Food Bank came out to be $800 and $156 was from Yingling in the final round against D’Angelo.
Teacher champion Yingling and top 5 bracket winners – Marley Kelleher, Bailey Hoover, Chloe Gibson, Peyton Espigh, and Zachary McGary. Bracket winners will be rewarded with a movie day with friends. The first place winner gets to pick the movie and choose 10 friends to accompany them. Yingling’s classes will receive a pool party during their class period with either pizza or donuts, depending on what time of day they have her. “The party will be next week, “I know it’s next week but not the day” said Yingling.
“I’m very excited; I was so shocked,” Yingling said.
