Annual Costume Contest at the David Geffen School of Medicine
The Career Development and Well-Being program hosted the All School Costume Contest on Monday, awarding prizes for both costumes and the pumpkin carving contest held last week. The four winning pumpkin teams included “Harry Pumpkinhead,” “Look at the Teeth,” “Frida Kahloween” and “Cortical Kent” while awards such as “Best Couples Costume,” “Best Group Ensemble,” “Funniest” or “Most Cute” were awarded for some of the various costumes. After the awards ceremony, all the medical students enjoyed pizza and camaraderie.
“I got a call last night saying, ‘Oh, why don’t we get a couple of our friends together and come as the periodic table?’ I thought it was an awesome idea,” says Samuel Olanrewaju, pictured far right, the “aluminum” in his periodic table of friends. “So we tried to make it as creative as possible. You can see that neon wore a neon shirt; I taped on aluminum, things like that. We tried to correlate what we wore with the element we are. It can also teach children as well. If we’re able to go over to Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA, it’s creative and can make science fun. We’re all trying to go over there as well.”
Eviola Nakhla
“Before I was really sad because I felt like, ‘I’m in medical school now, I have to act professional,’” says Eviola Nakhla, a first-year student who was excited to learn the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA hosts events such as pumpkin carving and the costume contest. “There is that struggle between wanting to express yourself and be fun but also remain professional and transition into your career. So I was really happy that everyone here seems down to earth and open to fun activities. I like that’s it’s encouraged.”
Claire Isidro & Jonathan Gatto
“We wanted to do something together,” says Jonathan Gatto, dressed as Wolverine, referring to Claire Isidro, dressed as Jean Grey. Both Jonathan and Claire are second-year students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Jonathan continues, “I’ve been wanting to do Wolverine for a long time and we’ve been a couple for some time now, so we decided to go with Wolverine and Jean Grey.” The pair took home the award for ‘Best Couple’s Costume’ in the costume contest. Jonathan says, “It’s fun. UCLA does a really good job of letting us cut loose and do things like have a costume contest in the middle of the medical school campus.”
Precious Fortes
“I liked dressing up as Winnie the Pooh when I was younger, and this year my husband is Christopher Robin and I’m Winnie the Pooh,” says Precious Fortes, a second-year student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA who won the “Cutest Costume” award at this year’s Halloween contest. “I’m also 30 weeks pregnant and I wanted something to show my bump. Just like Pooh Bear has a lot of ‘hunny’ in his belly, I have a little ‘honey’ in mine.” She enjoys the events the school hosts “because you don’t feel so separated from the real world, it’s nice to integrate the celebratory parts of life into medicine.”
