Lifted Spirits

Beyond Athletics:

RED MADNESS Takes On a New Meaning

The Manhattanville athletic department has been in charge of coordinating the annual Red Madness festivities. Red Madness is the college’s version of a pep rally that is meant for the school to come together as one. The event is essentially used to showcases all of the sports teams and is held right before the basketball and hockey season begins. It is usually held inside the Kennedy Gym but this year that changed.

In past years, the turnout and attendance has not gone as expected. It has consisted of athletes and lots of them. Instead of the Manhattanville community coming as one, it was just the athletes of the school that primarily made up the attendance at Red Madness. As small of a school as Manhattanville is, there should be more people that take part in it aside from just athletes.

The need to bring awareness to Red Madness was evident. This created a need for change, and change is exactly what took place. This past Thursday, Manhattanville College held Red Madness and it singlehandedly changed the experience for many. Instead of taking place in the gym it moved its location to GoValiants.com Field.

Upon arrival, students and faculty were advised to bring in a perishable good that would be given to the Duchesne Center. It is also worth noting those freshmen were required to attend as part of their freshman seminar. That definitely helped to increase the attendance.

As large as the field is, the school managed to fill it up nicely. The music was loud and so was the crowd. It finally appeared to be a real “college” event; the kind that you usually see at big state colleges. Students even walked around with their face painted in Valiant colors. People genuinely appeared to be enjoying the event.

“I can honestly say this was my first college experience. I feel like I actually go to a college now,” said junior, Yanilis Checo  

The main portion of the night included the dance routines that each sports team created. They proved to have talents on and off the field. The music selection resonated well with the crowd and they sang along. It was the women’s softball team that took the prize at the end of the night for best dance.

The changes made for Red Madness turned out to be successful. Finally the opportunity to bring the school together was made possible.