March Madness brackets turn fuzzy with Kappa Delta Rho

by Kerri Hoover Editor-In-Chief

Kappa Delta Rho (KDR) retired the traditional basketball brackets this year and opted for a more fuzzy alternative to March Madness.

Instagram bio. Participants were required to include their names, emails, pet’s name, and photograph to successfully register. Upon completion, they received a donation link via email to process their entry fee.

advanced to the next round beginning around noon the following day.

The KDR brothers also encouraged voters to share their favorite picks on their personal social media feed to generate additional buzz and votes.

affect the student body. McCarthy said that Healthy Haven plans to accomplish its goals by continuously hosting on-campus events such as guest speakers, presentations, informational tables, and fun activities educating students about health topics through handouts, posters and pamphlets.

The organization already has a series of events scheduled throughout the semester focusing on various health and wellness topics. Healthy Haven recently be hosted two events on Thursday, April 13.

From 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., LHU’s Clearfield Campus hosted the “How’s Your 5?” event, a community resilience and public mental wellness program. The event was free and open to the public as well as faculty. Attendees also received a light lunch.

At 7 p.m on LHU’s main campus, Healthy Haven hosted “A Better High” with guest speaker Dr. Matt Bellace, a neuropsychologist and comedian, in Price Auditorium.

Students can stay up to date on future health and wellness events by following Healthy Haven’s Instagram @ healthyhavenlhu. The account also posts daily motivational quotes and tips on how to help students get through their busy schedules.

“It’s a new site to get the word out about anything on campus or in the community to support student wellbeing,” said Kristi Hammaker, director of Healthy Haven and Health and Wellness Educator at Commonwealth University.

Additional information about Healthy Haven can be retrieved by contacting Hammaker at khammaker@ commonwealth.edu or McCarthy at jlm8394@ lockhaven.edu.

The brothers hosted their first pet-inspired fundraising competition, nicknamed Mutt Madness, during mid-March. KDR raised over $100 and donated all proceeds to the Clinton County SPCA.

KDR President, Devon Bartleson, stated that the event aimed to enhance the fraternity’s image while simultaneously boosting on-campus involvement.

“Oftentimes events feel like they’re just for the brothers and their friends, so we tried a new approach on things [by] opening up [to] the people’s homes and involving pets,” Bartleson said

Another reason behind the fundraiser stemmed from students’ love for sharing and bragging about their pets.

“It was great to see when you’d mention the event, and people immediately scroll[ed] through their phone to show you all their photos,” Bartleson said.

The fundraiser was conducted as a social media campaign across Instagram. With nearly 700 followers, LHU’s oldest fraternity published a series of posts advertising the event and encouraged students to submit a picture of their favorite fuzzy friends.

Despite titling the fundraiser Mutt Madness, KDR welcomed submissions of all pets. Each entry cost participants $5, and registration began March 8.

Students entered the competition by filling out the Google Form that was linked in the fraternity’s

A total of 20 pets were registered for the fundraiser, featuring 17 dogs, 2 cats, and 1 rabbit.

KDR teased the furry contestants in a social media post on March 13 and asked followers to comment on their favorite early picks.

After the five-day registration period ended, pets were ranked

“The minute I saw my dog, Zane, posted to KDR’s Instagram story, I quickly shared it with all of my friends and family to help get him as many votes as possible,” said student participant, Ashley Lawson.

She added, “I even posted the link on my Facebook.

I normally don’t partake in Greek Life activities, but I enjoyed being a part of this one.” against one another using a random name generator. The preliminary voting round started on March 14.

Following nine days of voting, Mo, a boxer breed submitted by Olivia Anastos, earned the first-ever KDR Mutt Madness champion title.

Mo’s win was announced on March 23 via an Instagram post. In addition to bragging rights, pet owner Anastos received a $25 Sheetz gift card.

“I’m excited my dog won. I think it was great that KDR donated to the SPCA with the money they earned from Mutt Madness, and I’m glad that I was able to help contribute to that,” Anastos said.

KDR hosted the competition publicly through Instagram stories, specifically utilizing the app’s polling feature.

The campus community could vote between which two pets they liked best in each pre-selected bracket. The pet with the highest percentage of votes after 24 hours

Bartleson hopes to establish Mutt Madness as an annual tradition based on the event’s perceived popularity.

“The event was very successful in my eyes,” he said.

“I would love to do the event again next year and establish it as a new tradition because of how much interaction we received in comments, DMs, and voting. I feel like it helped the image of the fraternity and showed how open we are to everyone on campus and in the community.”