Glenwood MS “Midnight Madness” Event—Family Fun To Build Community and Raise Funds!

Posted: 5/20/2013

Midnight Madness is the biggest school event of the year and almost all of the students at Glenwood Middle School participate! The teachers, student's parents and custodial staff volunteer their time to make this fundraiser event possible. A huge portion of the community, the students' immediate family, comes to Glenwood Middle School to help support the fundraiser and to be involved in the fun! There are student basketball games going on all afternoon and into night, silent auctions, head shaving (where money is donated to a previous student's Relay for Life Team), plenty of food and smoothies to buy, faces painting and so much more!

One of our biggest events is the Team USA and Team America basketball games. These games are adapted for those students who may need some changes, such as wheel chairs or a different kind of basketball hoop, in the game to be successful. Our adapted PE teacher organizes these teams of students to work with and support our students that need adapted physical education. The energy is amazing at this event and there is always a strong feeling of community support and excitement.

Midnight Madness raises money for different organizations every year, as the students play in basketball games until midnight on the day of the after-school portion of Midnight Madness. This year we decided the theme should be "Stand Up, Don't Stand By", which brought us to the decision to have the major portion of our fundraiser raise money for PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center!

The guidance counselors gave seminars to all of the students in the school about bullying and how others should be treated, which is a big focus in our school. During this in-class session the counselors took pictures of every student holding a sign, which they made, that said what they would do if they saw someone being bullied. These pictures were played in a slide show at the front of the school during Midnight Madness, and they were also hung all along the hallways near the gym and cafeteria.

Some students wrote things like "I will change the subject" or "I will stand up for the victim". The school and community always comes together to put on an amazing Midnight Madness event each year, and this year we were very excited to have a strong focus on the serious problem of bullying.

We hope that this focus has impacted our students to stand up against bullying.

By: Glenwood Middle School