Keene State to hold 10th Annual Midnight Madness Celebration

KEENE, N.H. 10/25/05 - Midnight Madness at Keene State is celebrating an anniversary. The College will hold its 10th Annual ‘Midnight Madness’ Celebration this Friday at Spaulding Gym. The doors open at 10:30 p.m. and festivities are scheduled to begin at 11 p.m.

Men’s Basketball Coach Rob Colbert and the ‘Madness’ Committee have put together a creative program with a special television game show theme during the first hour leading up to the arrival of the Owl basketball teams at the stroke of midnight. KSC cheerleaders and the dance team will also perform. “It’s going to be a very interactive program,” said Colbert. “We wanted to get more students involved and I think we’ve accomplished that.”

“Instead of being just an athletic event, we wanted Madness to have a more campus feel this year,” added Jennifer Ferrell, KSC’s Coordinator of Student Activities. “We really made an effort to have students not only participate, but help plan the event.”

Although Colbert was cagey about the plans during the special first hour, he did divulge that the first 1,500 students through the door will receive Madness T-shirts. He also thanked campus groups and community businesses for their generous support of the program. Among the prizes for this year’s celebration is a semester package valued at $3,500 that includes housing, a meal plan, and books. There are also two spring-break trip certificates, five $300 book vouchers, free haircuts, loads of hamburger coupons, and $500 in cash.

Following the student games, both KSC basketball teams will take to the court and entertain the crowd with slam dunk and three-point shooting contests.

“Madness at Keene State has really out grown its basketball-only reputation and has become a student gathering,” Colbert said. “I’m proud that it draws together so many people from various backgrounds. Next to graduation, it’s one of the biggest student gatherings on campus.”