Match Day: As Told by USF Medical Student, Trey Penton

Courtesy of Penton's blog, The Culprit Life

Okay, so the thing about Match Day is that what you perceive it to be and what it really is are two different things. At least for me.

Here are the facts: 4th year medical students gather with family and friends and the staff of the medical college to open envelopes one by one that will tell them where they are going to spend the next three, five, or six years of their lives. Many have an idea of where they will be going; many don’t. Here is a place where hopes and dreams and visions of the future are either realized, moderately diminished or completely crushed. For over 100 medical students. In front of hundreds of other people.

Sounds like a great set up for an episode of some primetime basic cable drama right?

Wrong.

While all those things above are true, in reality, Match Day is less like an epic televised mini-series and more like a big family barbeque with chicken wings, beer, a lot of infants being carried around, and the occasional rowdy uncle. The dramatically broad spectrum of emotion being felt is not overtly apparent to the casual observer. The fantastic, anxiety driven adventure you expect to find is in fact hidden in the hearts and minds of the students around which the event is centered and perhaps in those of their spouses and close family. On the surface it remains chicken wings and beer.

This is not to diminish the magnitude of the event or its effect on the participants in any way. It is simply an observation. A recognition of the disconnect between expectations and actual atmospheric conditions.

There is no song and dance at Match Day. The show, the only show, is comprised of our associate dean of student affairs calling out names, students coming down, opening envelopes and announcing what city and program they are headed to. Then everyone claps. It’s straight forward really.

The uniqueness of the event lies in its emotional peculiarity. Each student that opens an envelope is opening themselves up to the entire audience (which, thanks to live internet streaming, included people from all over the world). Whether they get exactly what they wanted, their very last choice or something in between, it all comes out in their face and tone of voice when they read that piece of paper. And everyone knows right then and there if you will be charging forward with your lifelong dream in the way (and place) you thought or whether you’ll spend the next five years of your existence in a city you never even wanted to visit. The day before, I pondered to myself, and out loud to my friends in the communications department, if this was the right way to do things. Should we really be placing people in a public arena when such a life changing piece of information is revealed to them? Especially when the content of that information is mostly a result of how well they performed in their primary focus (medical school) over the past four years. In what other profession is this done in? What right do we have to be spectators in a moment where someone could either emerge triumphant as after a tremendous battle or burn like Joan of Arc at the stake of their own calling?

This internal conflict I foresaw myself having on the day before was put mostly to rest by the associate dean’s simple disclosure at the start of the event that some students had opted to find out about their residency privately. So they are not forced to discover their fate in this public manner. They have a choice. But there is peer pressure. What will your fellow classmates think if you decide to open your envelope privately? Will that choice be made out of shame? Out of fear of possible embarrassment? Out of the feeling that you just weren’t good enough to get to where you wanted or needed to go?

I don’t know.
I am only in my first year.
But my guess is that a lot of these things come into play; that there is something much deeper to appreciate about this event then what is seen on the surface.

I’m not saying I agree or disagree with how match day works; I’m just saying it is something that should provoke conversation and a more profound examination of the emotional state of medical students. So I guess in that context, Match Day is a very good thing.

My thanks and my heart goes out to the dozens of students, triumphant and disappointed, who, for a moment in time, allowed me and hundreds of others to be the spectators in their Coliseum.

Community, Art Harmonize at Coffeehouse Night

By: Theresa Woods

It is not often enough, it seems, that campus variety events deliver all of the talent, entertainment and, well, variety that they promise. Usually they fall short with lackluster acts or performances that all seem to be the same. The Honors College’s Coffeehouses night certainly did not conform to that stereotype.

The mood of the evening was set by the soft lighting that gave the cavernous classroom an intimate feel. A sign hung behind the stage area welcoming students to the event. Artwork was displayed along several tables, and as students entered they were immediately drawn to imaginative scenes of desserts, fruit, and the Beatles, with the black and white pieces of Jessica Maservey garnering special attention.
      
Over the course of the evening, around a hundred students were treated to all different kinds of music from instrumental classical pieces performed by Janine Kiray and Talia Quartetti, to Taylor Swift’s “Today Was A Fairytale” sung by JenniferThai, Kristin Pearce & Kyle Goodrich. Susana Alvarado-Tricoche brought an international influence to the evening with the Abraham Velazquez song “Amandote.” Jamie Hodes performed twice -- once solo with “Miserable At Best,” originally fro Mayday Parade and again with Brandon Oakes with Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.”
      
Some students, however, chose to share their own words. Catherine Lim surprised many with the beautiful and honest lyrics to her original song “Melt,” and DeDe Khan performed the only poem of the evening, her own “I Want You Back” that ended with the powerful message that “ignorance will always be bliss.” Homer Alibutode and Jose Manzo performed their own song “Reaching Into The Dark,” and Kristen Pearce performed her untitled song that was so well-written and well-played that she left many in the audience wondering where it had come from.
      
Several performers brought so much charisma and undeniable stage presence to the event that the audience couldn’t help but give back. William Crowley and Kyle Goodrich had onlookers clapping in time with “Secret Agent Man,” and one of the final performers, Trey, had many singing along as he danced and played both the guitar and the harmonica. Standout performers Izzy Morejon and Matt Roberts, who sang and played guitar respectively, amazed the audience with their version of the Cat Stevens song “Don’t Be Shy” before improvising a blues song and taking suggestions from the audience.
      
All in all, the event was a well-orchestrated success, and there was a tangible sense of community amongst the students as they cheered on their classmates and caught up with their friends. If there was anything at all to be learned from the evening, it was that Honors Students aren’t just brilliant in the classroom – they’re talented too!