This month, a group of University of Miami medical students went all out to “break the law,” and they finally succeeded.
On Sunday evening, the med school captured the 2011 Dean’s Cup against the law school. The Dean’s Cup is an intense annual rivalry that dates back to the early 1980s.
With Sunday’s victory, the med school extended its overall record to 17 wins, six more than the law school.
Standing on the IM field, second-year med students Nirav Joshi and Danica Vance, captains for their school, hoisted the giant trophy in victory to the cheers of their teammates and supporters. Both Joshi and Vance were proud of their players and the school.
“It was a huge team effort,” Vance said. “The score was very close the last three days, but we never gave up.”
On the other side of the field, third-year law student John Fischer, the head coordinator for his school, said his teammates gave it their best.
“I’m proud of the effort; we played hard but unfortunately there can be just one winner,” Fischer said.
For these future doctors and lawyers, the Deans’ Cup competition is a lot more than catchy mottos like “break the law” and raw-raw rallies. These contests are taken seriously, and the importance of winning is instilled in law and med students alike from their first day in their respective programs.
“Since the first day in orientation, they talked about the Dean’s Cup and how big the event is for both schools,” said first-year med student Tyler Brown.
The Dean’s Cup competition is spread over about 10 days and consists more than 25 different activities and sports in which teams from each school accumulate points toward the winning final score. Contests included soccer, basketball, volleyball and kickball matches, along with video games, billiards and darts competitions.
Dean of the Law School Patricia White said the competitiveness says something about the students from both schools.
“Maybe that says something about the sort of person who wants to become a doctor or a lawyer,” she said.
Daniela Santamarina may be contacted at dsantamarina@themiamihurricane.com.