Madness for a Good Cause

The month of March in college basketball and also in high school is mainly known for its madness, but this year at Sachem High School East it is all about charity.

All proceeds from the events that make up this year's March Madness basketball tournament held late last month will go to the Hoops for Haiti foundation. The East community had raised $2,500 through the March Madness event, which will be added to the $2,100 previously raised for the Haiti Relief Fund.

March Madness is an event that Sachem has been doing for quite a while. It was started to get the students to feel excited for something again, and not just going through a routine grind everyday until spring. Then to add a bit more excitement to the event a second Spirit Week was added as a precursor to the March Madness events.

"North used to do March Madness back when it was still one high school," said student government advisor Bill Kropp. "Then South did it. Then we at East decided to continue the tradition to what it is today. After the winter when people are just going through the motions, we needed to pep it up. Spring sports are starting so we wanted to get everyone involved in something again.

"We try to do easy things [during Spirit Week] like college day and student/teacher switch day. That one was big. We got over one hundred students to switch."

Hoops for Haiti was started in 2009 by a former college soccer player by the name of Sarah Aubry. It was originally started to bring simple items like shoes and basketballs to the people of Pillatre.

After a 7.0 earthquake rocked Haiti on January 12th plans for the foundation changed. It is now a leading foundation in the relief efforts, and one that the organizers of Sachem's March Madness thought would greatly appreciate help of any kind.

Every year the proceeds from March Madness go to a charity that is decided by the event organizers. The organizers of this year's event found the decision to be a simple one.

"When the officers met for a charity, it was pretty obvious," said Kropp. "When we decided what charity to go with, it was very soon after the disaster so it just became the obvious choice. We thought of changing for the earthquake in Chile, but we were already committed to Hoops for Haiti. But the earthquake in Haiti was far worse any way."

The event organizers wanted to find something that would go to a good cause, and something that would benefit immediately from the help.

"We see Clinton and Bush on T.V. doing things, and after going online we saw a lot of colleges as well," said Kropp. "Our T-shirt design was modeled after the University of Kentucky's T-shirt."

March Madness has always been a great event for students and teachers alike. The students have a weeklong tournament that culminates in the daylong March Madness events. There is a dunk contest, three point shot contest, as well as performances by the Arrowettes and the cheerleaders. Teachers participate as well in a game between seniors at East and the teachers.