Towards the end of the year, classes might start to get a little repetitive. That’s why many teachers across campus introduce different March Madness activities to create a fun environment in a time of stress.
History teacher Michelle Santosuosso, for example, created Santo Madness, an activity in which each person in the class picks a historical figure and then creates a video and propaganda piece to try and propel their character into the next round. The class then votes on who should move on to the next round.
“I did something similar at Ursuline a long time ago, but it wasn’t an actual competition,” Santosuosso said. “My first year here, 11 years ago, I attempted to do the same project and it wasn’t successful. So I thought because it’s around March, April time, ‘Oh, what if I made it into, like, a March Madness competition?’ And so I tried that out next year, and it was a blast. I have been doing it for 10 years since.”
History is not a competitive class by nature, but Santo Madness allows students who are competitive to thrive while still practicing their history and reviewing for the upcoming final exam.
“For the competition part, it’s fun because it allows students to get a little bit creative,” Santosuosso said. “There’s a video piece and then the propaganda piece, and I think we, just as a community, thrive on healthy competition.”
Santosuosso has seen students who, for most of the year, were quiet and not as interested in the subject, become very enthusiastic about Santo Madness and show a different side that she hadn’t known about.
“Sometimes certain characters think they should win it all, and then there’s such beef that they didn’t win or got cut round one,” Santosuosso said. “They graduate and come back and are still talking about how they feel they should have won.”
Santo Madness is a very engaging activity, especially for students having Santosuosso for the first time. Cannon Beatey, a sophomore in her history class, is looking forward to experiencing the thrilling activities.
“I have heard great things about Santo Madness,” Beatey said. “I am really looking forward to participating and hopefully winning the game. I think it will be a very fun way to bring together all of the history I have learned this year.”
Santo Madness isn’t the only March Madness themed activity across campus during the months of March and April. In sixth grade science, students learn about animals through March Mammal Madness. In eighth grade Spanish, some students participate in a verb conjugation game known as “La Lo de Marzo.” Although the excitement of the famed basketball tournament may be hard to beat, teachers across the school try to use various activities and exercises to boost student engagement as the school year comes to a close.
