By Mike Rougeau
Two teams of students from the School of Pharmacy faced off Thursday against two teams of professors in Rx Wars, a game show tournament testing knowledge on pharmacy, general trivia and pop culture.
Sponsored by Rho Chi, Northeastern’s pharmacy honor society, the event was meant to build unity in the pharmacy school and allow the students and faculty to socialize outside a classroom setting, said the event’s primary organizer and fifth-year pharmacy major Dayton Yuen.
In 20 West Village F, teams of four students competed against teams of four professors in parodies of games like “Family Feud,” “Jeopardy” and “The Weakest Link.” In the final game, “The Weakest Link,” the winners of the first two games competed for first place in a free-for-all format.
Associate clinical professor Michael Gonyeau played the role of game show host.
“I’m going to do my best Richard Dawson impression,” he said, garnering laughs from students in the audience who are fans of “Family Feud.”
Ryan Michel, a third-year pharmacy major and member of the Pillpushers team, said he was excited to prove to the faculty that the pharmacy students understand their profession by playing well in the first round, which was “Family Feud.”
“We’ve been practicing, watching about 10 episodes a day via YouTube,” he said.
One of his teammates, third-year pharmacy major Leo Tabayoyong, said he was ready to be embarrassed by faculty members since he lacked knowledge about the topic, despite all the practicing his team did.
“[I’ve been] watching episodes, playing online, getting the clicker hand strong,” he said. “I think the crowd’s going to get into it and we’re all going to have a good time.”
To imitate the audience survey aspect of “Family Feud,” organizers surveyed students in pharmacy classes prior to the event. Questions included “If you could not major in pharmacy, what would you major in?” and “If you could skip any class in the pharmacy curriculum, what would it be?” Competitors then had to guess how their classmates had answered.
Assistant clinical professor Jennifer McIntosh said that despite her “abject fear of humiliation,” she was participating with her team, The Rxellence, to support the hard work of the Rho Chi students who put the event together.
“I am so convinced that I’ll be humiliated, yet I am still here,” she said. “I think that shows my level of dedication.”
Andrew Skirvin, associate clinical professor and member of The Rxperts, said he was excited to play “Jeopardy” in the second round, despite his dislike for the TV version of the game.
“Alex Trebek acts like he’s so smart,” he said. “I just want to have a good time.”
Fifth-year pharmacy major Orod Soleimani took home the first place trophy, as well as a mortar and pestle set, which is a manual grinder. Fifth-year pharmacy major Brian Zikaras, sixth-year pharmacy major Jeffrey Onyeokoro and associate clinical professor Jennifer Kirwin placed second, third and fourth, respectively, and also received mortar and pestle sets.
“The night was pretty good, and we had a pretty good turnout,” Yuen said. “The audience had a great time, the participants had a great time. We would definitely like to have it again.”
