By Cindy Tian (entering class of 2013)

Two chartered buses packed with MD/PhD students left Mount Sinai on a sunny Friday afternoon to kick off a weekend filled with interclass bonding, science, and most importantly, FUN. The 2014 MSTP Retreat from Friday Sept 5th through Sunday Sept 7th was a roaring success. This year, the annual event was held in the Catskills, two hours outside the city at Honors Haven Resort and Spa in Ellenville. Resplendent with lakes, paddle boats, a golfing green, and picturesque hiking trails, Honors Haven has been a favorite of Sinai MSTPers in years past for the plethora of outdoor activities.

Friday night opened with an inspirational keynote on resilience by Dr. Dennis Charney, Dean of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dinner was followed by the annual retreat poster session, featuring the research of students in their graduate phase of training. Friday evening also ushered in, by popular demand, a titillating Bar Trivia mixer. Haphazard teams of 4-7 students and faculty (augmented by a smattering of strangers in the bar) battled valiantly in topics that ran the gamut—Robin Williams movies, obscure NYC facts, Disney lyrics, and geography. Ultimately, the faculty-laden team led by MSTP Director Yasmin Hurd and Courtney Manning took home the prize: a bottle of rye whiskey. Day two of the retreat saw no waning of fun, as an interactive morning MSTP alumni panel featuring Dr. Noura Abul-Husn, Dr. Emilio Arteaga-Solis, and Dr. Talia Swartz jumpstarted the day. Intimate, Sinai faculty-led small group breakout sessions followed lunch, with thoughtful topics including Clinical Pearls: Cuz Your Family Thinks You’re A Doctor, How to Win Friends and Influence People: Networking and Collaborations, and Putting on a Show: Effective Talks and Powerpoints. Not to be outdone, dynamic student research presentations by sixth-years Tim Cashman, Andrew Kent, and Peter Liu set the tone for the evening.

Following dinner, the planned nighttime festivities raged on, with a cheesy flashback to the 90s—Sinai Prom-Karaoke! Nostalgic high school prom photos of students and faculty were looped on the projector for voting of “Best Photo”—won fittingly by second-year Vincent Luo for his diversely posed and visually stunning white tux photo collection, which will forever induce merriment and hearty guffaws to all attendees. Karaoke participants additionally vied for the coveted titles of “Prom King” and “Prom Queen” with enthusiastic renditions of the classics—Journey, Queen, Britney. Ultimately, Sinai’s very own director, Dr. Hurd was crowned Prom Queen following an inspired performance of “It’s Raining Men” by the Weather Girls and first-year Joshua Borgerding was crowned Prom King for his outstanding overall performance Saturday (especially during the group photo). The royal couple received confidential, highly functional, and cleverly constructed gag gifts.

All in all, fun times and life lessons were had by many at the three-day, two-night annual MSTP retreat, a tribute to the hard work of the retreat committee, and notably the leadership of MSTP chief administrator, Courtney Manning and sixth-year Andrew Kent, the 2014 committee chair.