Celebrating the Holidays with Batson College
While the month of December can be stressful with students finishing up their clerkships, studying for an upcoming Homeostasis exam, doing research, or interviewing for residencies, Batson college has the perfect tradition to bring everyone together and provide some holiday cheer: the Batson Holiday Party!
Each year, medical students, college mentors, and faculty advisors gather together in a physician’s lovely home and bring a signature dish that is special to medical students’ families during the holidays. In the past, this has ranged anywhere from holiday desserts to Taco Bell. Indulging in these comfort foods surrounded by friends is a great way to take our focus off of medical school-related responsibilities for one night and enjoy the company of the Batson family.
Next, we had two friendly competitions: a gingerbread house-making contest and an ugly sweater contest. Everyone had access to boxes of graham crackers, containers of frosting, and tons of bags of candy to create their best gingerbread houses in teams. It was amazing to see how enthusiastic and creative medical students were as they built these houses! Individuals who chose to wear ugly holiday sweaters lined up for judging by our college mentors, with the top three receiving gift cards to Au Bon Pain, an on-campus cafe. However, everyone enjoyed spreading holiday cheer with their sweaters and was truly a winner.
Last but certainly not least, Batson college utilized this opportunity during the holidays to gather donations for the Toys for Tots organization, serving as a reminder that this holiday season is really about giving to others in need. I saw everything from Elsa and Ana dolls to a Connect 4 game donated. So even though we as medical students were surrounded by stressful situations, we made the most of this opportunity to gather together and enjoy food, ugly sweaters, and gingerbread houses, as well as give to those in need.