The inaugural "Warrior Olympics" held Friday in the green spaces outside the Wayne State University School of Medicine's Scott Hall and Mazurek Medical Education Commons capped the first of a two-week orientation welcoming the more than 280 first-year medical students who make up the incoming Class of 2021.
They included Livonia, Mich., native Amy Lewandowski, who transferred to WSU in her undergraduate years to be closer to her first choice for medical school. She earned her bachelor's degree in Nutrition and Food Science from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
"I think Wayne State is going to give you the best education available out of every other medical school. You don't see cases that they have here anywhere else, and you will know what to do," she said, referring to cases like multiple organ failure and trauma. "Wayne State is really good at teaching students that."
Lewandowski is a member of the orange "learning community" at the School of Medicine. New this year, 36 students are assigned to one specific color, and a six-member group within that color. The latter makes up the students' Gross Anatomy table.
The Warrior Olympics consisted of three stations featuring a variety of mental and physical challenges, including medical charades, a video skit challenge, challenging puzzle work and more. The first-place winner was green learning community table No. 25, which won by a slim margin of five points.
"It tastes so good," said teammate Eric Lisznyai, smiling and jokingly biting the gold medal draped around his neck.
The event was organized by the Office of Student Affairs and facilitated by Los Angeles-based Wise Guys events.
"I'm so proud to be part of the first-ever Warrior Olympics. We made sure all the challenges today were up to their intellectual level," said Wise Guys owner Myles Nye.
The games concluded a week that included a welcome breakfast with School of Medicine leadership, registration, lunches with upperclassmen, community service projects at nonprofits such as urban farms and food pantries, tours of the medical campus and Midtown Detroit, visits to the Detroit Institute of Arts, evening social events and more.
"It has been really effective in getting us to know each other," said Jessica Johns, a member of the purple learning community who moved to Detroit from Baltimore for medical school. "A lot of people really enjoyed having a team right away."
Johns grew up in Baltimore, and sees striking similarities between Detroit and her hometown, which also went through a revival and redevelopment more than a decade ago. She earned her bachelor's degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and has a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University.
"We're eager and ready to jump in and start learning," she said.
Fellow first-year student Josh Hester, a native of Wallingford, Conn., agreed with Johns.
"It has been very good to acclimate and get to know your class better," he said.
Orientation continues the week of July 24-28 with more community service projects, lectures and tours.
"It is long, but I like it, and you get to know who is going to help you, because it is going to be tough, obviously," Hester added.
Orientation ends July 28 with the celebratory White Coat Ceremony at the Max M. Fisher Music Center and Orchestra Hall in Detroit, where the Class of 2021 earns the short white coats identifying them as medical students for the next four years.
Pictured from left are Kassem Soufan, Eric Lisznyai and Jasmeet Kalsi, the winning Warrior Olympics team.