The women’s NCAA Division 1 college basketball tournament bracket displays games between the Elite Eight teams, down to the final. Juniors Layla Negrin and Selah Johnson created a bracket competition for Archer students to enter and compete in, with the prize of a Starbucks drink. (Graphic illustration by Laila Boodell)

College basketball fans across the country tune into the craze of March Madness, NCAA Division 1 college basketball championship, each year. Sixty-eight men’s and women’s teams compete to win the national title. The University of Florida Gators won the men’s tournament April 7 against the University of Houston, and the University of Connecticut Huskies took the women’s championship April 6, defeating the University of South Carolina.

During the tournament, juniors Layla Negrin and Selah Johnson introduced a bracket competition to the Archer community, allowing students and faculty to compete. The bracket consisted of 63 games, and participants made their predictions from the first game down to the finals. The student winners were Alexa Grant (’26) and Amelia Lewinson (’25) for the women’s, as well as Maya Cerbo (’28) and Parker Keston (’25) for the mens bracket.

In their sophomore year, Johnson and Negrin said they bonded over their love of basketball and planned to bring the fun of bracket-making to Archer. Using the NCAA website, they helped students create their brackets. Their competition was exclusive to Archer students, with a gift card as the prize for the most accurate predictions. Negrin said that, although she does not play basketball, she watches the tournament annually with her dad and enjoys picking her favorite teams and players and predicting upsets, which is when a lower-ranked team unexpectedly beats a higher-ranked team.

“We wanted other people to experience the tournament [and] making a bracket,” Negrin said. “I think it’s so fun to root for a team because you pick them in your bracket [and] find players that you like.”

Ninth grade dean and Fitness Department Chair Stephanie Ferri helped Negrin and Johnson bring their idea to life, aiding in the logistics and bringing the idea to administrators. She has filled out brackets and competed with faculty members since she started working at Archer.

“When I first started working here, there was an English teacher, Mr. Donnell, and he would initiate the process, and we then would fill out the paper brackets,” Ferri said. “It was a community event, and every year was a highlight to be part of it.”

Negrin said the competition is a great way to bond because it connects students with their fellow basketball lovers. 

“It brings people together 100%,” Negrin said. “Because there’s so much division in our world, you can unite over a sports game, watch a game together [or] root for the same team.” 

In the future, Ferri said she would like the competition to expand. For example, implementing the bracket competition into mentorship groups by having students fill out brackets together and compete against other mentorships.

“A lot of what we do is rooted in social-emotional learning. And deciding on something like [making a bracket] — you have to figure out your relationship skills and your effective communication,” Ferri said. “So it could be kind of a funny way to integrate social-emotional learning in a more relevant way.”

Alexa Kagiwada (‘26) said she is glad Negrin and Johnson created the competition because it’s an opportunity to compete with friends. 

“Right now is a really stressful time. A lot of the juniors are worrying about college, and the seniors — I’m sure they have a lot of questions about what life looks like outside of Archer,” Kagiwada said. “It’s a good way to take a break from that and just have some competitive fun with classmates.”