WMed students took time this year to spread a little cheer by putting their own festive and creative twist on the holiday classic “Winter Wonderland.”
The result is “Western is Our Med School Wonderland,” a catchy two-minute song that was written by first-year medical students Jordan Jabara, Dustin Rowland and Robert Welch, and performed in a holiday video that included them and several classmates. Second-year students Ryan Maziarz and Paya Sarraf played guitar and violin, respectively, for the song.
The list of student performers for the song and video included Jabara, Rowland and Welch, as well as first-year students Lisa Gustafson, Patrick Hilaire, Jake Lautze, Gordon Liu, Annika Nuler, Elaine Oldford, Melissa Pellman, and Auburn Skakle; second-year students Arlene Ho, Christine Stevens, and Christine Tran Vu; third-year students Dan Ferman and Charlene Lin, and fourth-year student Ai Yamasaki.
Dawn DeLuca, the medical school's Health Careers and Pathways Coordinator, served as musical director for the song and she worked closely with the students to make the holiday video a reality, as did Michele Serbenski, WMed’s associate dean for Planning and Performance Excellence and Erin Dafoe, the medical school’s director of Student Life.
Work on the song and video began in late November with WMed students and DeLuca meeting for two rehearsals at the medical school’s W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus. The video, meanwhile, was shot and produced in early December by a crew from Lawrence Productions.
“It was a pleasure to work closely with our talented students to produce this song and video, and spread a little holiday cheer,” Serbenski said.