History

March Madness began at Catherine M. McGee Middle School in March of 1998.  Students were encouraged to become a participant in our own basketball tournament, which was patterned after the NCAA men's and women's national college tournament. The concept of March Madness was discussed, and students were encouraged to select their own teams and actively participate.  The finalists of each grade level would earn the right to play against the McGee staff.  This gave the students an opportunity to interact with staff at another level therefore building better student - staff relationships and cooperation.

During March Madness students were given the opportunity to participate in our tournament as players, referees, or scorers.  In addition, Student Council sponsored a spirit week. Students showed off their school spirit by participating in jersey day, pink day, hat and shades day, pajama day, wacky hair day, twin day and much more. A penny drive and read-a-thon were organized to help our students learn that teamwork can be achieved at many levels, not just on the basketball court. They soon realized that all together we could accomplish more. One of the best parts of our March Madness Program is that students write essays to persuade the March Madness Committee to donate some of our funds to a charity of their choice.  Students with winning essays get to hand a check to their charity at halftime of our student vs. staff game on March 20, 2026.