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The contest between the competitors was tight.

Ghost squirrel and pirate squirrel were deadlocked in the Kent Kraziness brackets recently until the competition came down to just five votes.

Ghost squirrel eked out the win.

Kent Kraziness is an competition created by University Housing Services to increase social media engagement. The competition, which kicked off on March 14-April 4, is a nod to the NCAA's March Madness.

Thanks to the creative graphics chops of senior visual communications design major Celia Martin, the competition has 24 black squirrels from all walks of life.

“It has been bigger and more spirited than we anticipated,” said Julia Keahey, video and digital marketing coordinator with University Housing and Culinary Services (UHCS). “Recently when the ghost competed against the pirate, and it was neck and neck the entire time. When we had about three hours left in the poll, we saw people resharing it like crazy, campaigning for their favorite squirrel.”

Keahey explains that the Kent Kraziness brackets are seeded like the traditional March Madness basketball tournament.

Every weekday there is a poll on the UHCS Instagram where people can vote on which squirrel is their favorite. The regions on the brackets are named after the four main housing desks across campus, which are also on printed brackets that can be filled out in at the housing desks.

And the brackets are filled with Martin's squirrels, which she began to create  in 2021 when culinary services was rebranding and her supervisor asked her to create something with black squirrels.

Since then she’s created student squirrel, drag queen squirrel, safety and security squirrel, cheerleader squirrel, graduate squirrel, snowman squirrel, cupid squirrel, karaoke squirrel and sleepover squirrel, to name a few. here.

As the Kent Kraziness bracket heats up, Martin looks on in amazement. Not one to brag or boast about her graphics, she is having fun watching her squirrels make an impact.

“It's funny to see people voting on them or posting them or commenting and saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I love this one or that this one is so cute.’” And I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh I made that.’ So it’s been kind of fun.”