In St. Louis High School, the excitement of March Madness has reached a peak as students and staff alike are jumping at the opportunity to fill out brackets for the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament.
In the halls between classes, the cafeteria, and even in the classroom during instruction, students can be seen huddled around phones and laptops looking over team statistics and matchups in order to craft the perfect bracket to gloat over.
With the tournament’s tip-off fast approaching, the halls of SLHS are filled with chatter about who picked which to win it all, potential upsets, Cinderella stories, and that one guy who picked Michigan State to go all the way. Some teachers have even handed out brackets to their students as an extra credit assignment to spark some more competition and excitement over the NCAA tournament.
Science teacher, Mrs. Godwin is one such teacher who handed out an extra credit bracket, and she shared her reasoning behind doing so with, “I made (the brackets) extra credit because some students don’t necessarily like basketball, or they don’t find that stuff fun, but for the students that do, it brings a little bit of competitiveness in the class. I’m competitive, so I like to bring that to the classroom to get students to care about something. I even still have students talking about the brackets last year from my class(es).” As Mrs. Godwin stated, sparking a bit of positive competition between students and staff is beneficial for a small town community like St. Louis because not only does it keep idle minds busy before the upcoming spring break, but it also brings the community closer together.
Senior Dominick Girard is a March madness fanatic who always loves to try and figure out the perfect bracket to hold over his friends and family. “Well I’m not really that big of a basketball person, so it’s always a struggle to get a halfway decent bracket made. But it’s always fun to try and figure it out and be competitive. I just like to win.”
But for SLHS, March madness isn’t just about basketball; it’s also about camaraderie, friendly competition, and even school spirit. As brackets are being finalized with the tip off fast approaching, the entirety of SLHS awaits the inevitable drama that will unfold with the NCAA tournament, knowing that regardless of which team upsets which, there will always be an exciting game to watch.
