“It looks like in the movies! We don’t have something like that [Midnight Madness] at home,” said Judith Strah and Melanie Fehrembach, third-year German exchange students on Thursday, Oct. 11 at the 2018 Midnight Madness that was Neon Lights themed. Although the German exchange students said they only attended because “everyone else was going,” they both said they really enjoyed their night out.
The night began with MC’s Jared Reyes and Jackie Ceccato announcing all of the events that would be taking place, the main event being the introduction of the 2018-2019 California State University, Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) basketball teams. All of the players on each team were introduced with a walk out song, chosen by the individual, and their hometown.
“I came to show my support for CSUMB,” said Kayla Allen, a CSUMB student, “[Midnight Madness] was definitely better than last year, this campus continues to grow and with that, so does the spirit… It’s really great to see everyone out here showing their support.” Along with a packed gym, many students were seen dawning the Neon Lights T-shirts that were passed out to the first 1,000 students who attended.
The night was filled with great dance performances by the Otter Dance Team, CSUMB’s cheerleaders and two groups of basketball dance teams. There was also a number of volunteer-based games with prizes. An Apple Watch was given away to a student from the crowd after a competition to get the most free throws and a 49” television was given away to a student who made a half-court shot. Along with these t-shirts, and bandanas were being thrown periodically to the crowd. There were also different raffle ticket based prizes such as: Warriors tickets, Beats by Dre and two Disneyland tickets.
The night ended with an explosion of confetti on the basketball court, which was promptly followed by a large dance party beginning with the cupid shuffle.