Dear colleagues, we have a somewhat belated mini review of the annual ball that took place recently at Národní dům na Vinohradech.
To start with a big thank you to all the students who gave up their time and resources to ensure we had a fantastic spring ball, particular mention goes to Ondrej Suchanek, Marketa Smrckova, Tomas Hauer and Lukas Martinkovic who were largely responsible for arranging such trivial matters as the venue, sponsors, ticket sales and band... hats off for a job well done! Also we thank the FMSA (Foreign Medical Students Association) for promoting the event amongst the international students who turned up in good numbers.
In case you missed it the night kicked off with a speech from our Dean followed by entertainment in the form of a live band, some excellent dance routines and some truly eye catching outfits!
But it wasn’t only the dancers who looked the part, the students and the staff were dressed immaculately and certainly matched the high standards of our opulent surroundings helping to make for a very glamorous night.
As the evening wore on, inspired by the professionals and alcohol both students and faculty members took to the stage attempting various versions of such classics as the Waltz, Foxtrot, the Twist and bizarrely the Chicken dance – a sight to behold and worthy of the entrance fee alone. Whilst some of our students had clearly been practising and wouldn’t look out of place on Strictly Come Dancing, others clearly hadn’t and were quite happy to play ballroom pinball, either way it was all done in great spirit and extremely entertaining to partake in or simply watch from the sides.
Later in the night the Dean began to make another announcement, unfortunately the combination of the highly intoxicating but very cheap wine added to our already shaky knowledge of Czech meant most of us (international students) were somewhat oblivious to the events unfolding before our very eyes. Nonetheless we were delighted to see prof. MUDr. Roman Kodet, CSc. take to the stage and despite not being entirely sure why he was there we raised our glasses and proceeded to make as much noise as possible – some perhaps in the hope that it would make the dreaded Path exam a little easier and others just in gratitude that they had passed! As it turned out he was one of 10 teachers who all received the title of ‘Teacher of the year 2008’ plus a cash prize of 10,000 CZK. The results were based on comments from the course evaluations as well as a direct questionnaire asking students to name their top three teachers. The complete list of winners, who were all joint first, is as follows:
- doc. MVDr. Luděk Vajner, CSc. – Histology
- RNDr. Eduard Kočárek, Ph.D. – Medical Biology
- MUDr. Jana Matějková – Medical Microbiology
- prof. MUDr. Roman Kodet, CSc. – Pathology
- doc. MUDr. Josef Zámečník, Ph.D. – Pathology
- MUDr. Daniel Groh – ENT
- MUDr. Lubomír Hyršl – Urology
- MUDr. Helena Ambrožová, Ph.D. – Infectious Diseases
- MUDr. Zuzana Blechová – Infectious Diseases
- MUDr. Dita Smíšková – Infectious Diseases
In addition a special collective prize was given to the teachers from the dept. of Infectious Diseases which was accepted by dean of the department, doc. MUDr. Vilma Marešová, CSc.
The remainder of the night proceeded in much the same manner with more music, dancing and drinking – surely the essential ingredients for any student event. If you missed it this year I strongly recommend you attend next year, hope to see you there!
VR
