Did you know that the phrase “March Madness” was first coined in 1939 by Henry Porter during the annual High School Athletic Association basketball tournament.

Throughout March, McGee held their annual March Madness tournaments. Students  can go each year during March and watch during DS time for people's grade and team. Games have already begun all throughout the grades. They're all competing to earn a chance to play a game against the teachers on April fifth. There were eight sixth grade teams, five seventh grade teams, and seven and eighth grade teams. So there were 20 teams.

In total 175 students played in the games and there were 42 referees. Some of the teams that played this past season were:

•  Ohio Ballers

•  The Fizzlers

•  The Angels

• The Huskies

•  The Unguardables

•  The Hoopers

•  Whoppers

• The Jack and The Bean Stocks

One player on a seventh grade team named Avery Libano said that her motto is that people should always try new things. She isn't on the school basketball team but she said she wanted to try playing in March Madness for fun. That's what March Madness is all about: having fun and trying new experiences with friends and peers.

Each grade had the opportunity to go and watch their grade’s teams play during DS blocks.

The final product of this year's March Madness tournaments was the 6th and 8th graders winning against the teachers in their final games. While the 7th graders had us on the edge of our seats, it was a close but sad defeat.

Because Quest and Student Council was so generous and did so much fundraising for the school this past year, there was not a fundraiser and t-shirt competition.

Something surprising as well is that the Lions' 149-115 win over Michigan in 1990 is the highest scoring game in March Madness. Maybe next year a  McGee team will get that many points!

Overall, what a great season for Mcgee this year.

Hope you join us next year.

Taylor Swift has captivated her audience through the years with her amazingly worded song writing and experienced vocal range.

Swifts is ranked the eighth most popular artist in the world ever, but she wasn't always this famous. The billionaire actually used to be a normal kid with talent and worked toward her dream. 

On Dec. 13, 1989, Swift was born in West Reading, PA.. She has been working in the music industry for 20 years now. She started in 2004 at the age of 14. The pop singer’s publisher was Sony/ATV, thereby becoming the youngest signing in the company's history. In the next two decades she would gross over 1 billion dollars.

What is your favorite album? There is Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, Reputation, Lover, Folklore, Evermore and Midnights. 

The singer’s most popular album is Reputation and Swift’s most streamed song is “Cruel Summer.” The country/pop singer's  first single was “Tim McGraw" which you can find in the Taylor Swift album, and her most recent is "you're losing me" which is an unreleased song from the Midnights album. 

Taylor Swift's newest tour called the eras tour was made to highlight  her whole music industry journey. This is Swift's sixth tour in her career, and it is also the most expansive of all of Swift's tours with 151 shows across five continents. By the end of her tour this year, she will have made over 1.4 billion dollars from the tour alone. This would make it the most profitable tour in U.S. history.

Students and staff are in the midst of creating a school-wide charter. To do this, all classes submitted a list of emotions they would like to feel during the day, and following that, are actions to feel these emotions. 

Not only did the students get to pick these, but all of the staff submitted their own as a team; one of their emotions being respected. The main three emotions that the administrators saw from the submissions were safe, connected, and respected.

All of this takes place during a new class every Friday called RULER.

RULER stands for:

Recognizing emotions in self and others

Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions

Labeling emotions accurately

Expressing emotions appropriately

Regulating emotions effectively

During the 30 minute RULER block, there are different activities for the students to do after a lesson from the teacher, often having folders to keep in the classroom for each Friday.

The new RULER class is not only for the students, but rather is for everyone in the building, and helps build a positive community. Before they introduced the class, as a team, teachers paired with each other so that everyone in the building is included. In the upcoming classes, every classroom will be working together to continue assembling the charter.

On Thursday, Sept. 28, 2023, Grit 'N Wit came to McGee! All students had the opportunity to participate in obstacle courses, brain puzzles, and team activities to help build strong relationships here in our positive school zone. 

This event was free and all students were invited to join in on the fun. You might be wondering, what is Grit N’ Wit? Well, Grit n’ Wit is a company that travels around to help kids get the proper skills and information to succeed in this changing world of ours.

McGee students were put in groups of five or six to participate in the team building activities. Some of these activities were a mixture of logic puzzles and obstacle courses. They had to work together to solve the puzzles and get over different types of obstacles and the problems that occurred during the course. 

“Grit ‘N Wit was an exciting and rewarding experience for all McGee students,” said Mr. Chiaverini. “Students learned to work together on a team to be successful.”

The entire event was timed and the top three teams from each grade level team received prizes. First place winners received T-shirts, while second and third received frisbees. The goal was to get the title of “The Wittiest and Grittiest.” 

According to their website, gritnwit.com, the company was established in 2014 and has hosted over 300 events since then. Over the years, they have helped over 50,000 students in over 200 organizations.

Mr. Chiaverini said, “We hope to bring Grit ‘n Wit back next year!”