Medical students compete in 2024 Collegia Olympics

Students from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine wore the colors of their Collegia to represent and compete in the 2024 Collegia Olympics, held Feb. 9 at the USF Athletics complex. The games are designed to spark friendly competition among the nine Collegia for bragging rights and the opportunity to have their name etched in history on the The Collegia Cup. 
 
The Collegia Olympics are like a grade school “field day” event, offering the students an opportunity to break away from the rigors of their medical school schedule for a day of fun. 
 
“The Collegia Olympics is a time where we don’t have to worry about the organ systems we’re learning or when the next test is.  It represents a time when we get to let loose and form relationships with people we may not frequently see or may not be in our class while competing for the ultimate prize,” said Nishanth Chalasani, second-year MCOM student and current Collegia Program president.
 
This year’s competition featured some crowd favorites and new games for teams to compete.   
-       Dodgeball
-       Soccer
-       Basketball
-       Volleyball
-       Soccer
-       Trivia
-       Tug-o-war
-       Mechanical bull
-       Relay race (new)
-       Riddle relay (new)
-       Spelling bee (new)
-       Cup stacking (new)
-       Cornhole (new)
-       Water balloon toss (new)

The event also serves as the opportunity to introduce the newest slate of student leaders for the Collegia Program; a new Collegia board and Collegia chairs were announced before the closing ceremonies. 
 
Incoming Collegia board members:
-       Carson Bair – President
-       Trevor Pharr – Director
-       Armen Brotgandel – Events Manager
-       Logan Ziegler – Treasurer
 
Incoming Collegia chairs:
-       Anna Kate Hamann – Bourne Collegia
-       Chloe Chose – Debakey Collegia
-       Thomas Halflants – Farmar Collegia
-       Yoana Ivanova – Galen Collegia
-       Abby Lantz – Hippocrates Collegia
-       Elicia Wang – Koch Collegia
-       Esaan Azizi – Lower Collegia
-       Veronica Daoud – Osler Collegia
-       Michael Luongo – Paracelsus Collegia

After a day of fierce competition, Galen took home their first Collegia Olympics championship.  The group earned points in seven of the 14 scorable events including a first-place finish in trivia and second-place finishes in basketball and the relay race.  The Galen team will keep The Collegia Cup in their Collegia classroom until the next event in 2025.