Following the roaring success of UNMC’s new Labs mascot, the UNMC Student Senate has moved on to the next step in building a college identity at the med center: A campus fight song.
Thanks to the lyrical talents of a UNMC nursing student and a medical student, along with the composing talents of another medical student, the “UNMC Fight Song” has been created and adopted as UNMC’s own.
UNMC Student Senate President Katie Schultis debuted the fight song last Friday at the University of Nebraska Board of Regents meeting, with the backing vocals of UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, Dele Davies, MD, UNMC’s senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, and other UNMC officials.
It plays on the Labs mascot in more than a few ways, citing UNMC’s bark, its bite and its ability to leave a mark (in a good way). It ties in Nebraska Medicine’s “serious medicine, extraordinary care” slogan and credits the “community and unity” of those UNMC Labs.
Schultis said she hopes UNMC students have as much fun with the fight song as she’s had seeing it come to fruition.
“I love the fight song,” she said. “It’s catchy. It’s fun to sing. The lyrics do a great job of representing what UNMC is all about.”
Without further ado, here are the lyrics to the UNMC Fight Song.
U-N-M-C Labs!
U-N-M-C Labs!
U-N-M-C
U-N-M-C Labs!
In Nebraska, healing we bring,
In Nebraska, our voices ring
Training the best, with precision and flair,
For serious medicine and ex-tra-ord-in-ar-y- care!
We’ve got the bark (bark bark). We’ve got the bite (bite).
We’ll leave a mark (mark). We do things right (that’s right).
Nothing and nobody beats the community and unity of
U-N-M-C Labs! Go Labs!
Listen to the UNMC Fight Song at this link.
Schultis said she understands some people are wondering what the fight song is for if UNMC doesn’t have a sports team. Her response to that: “Quite simply, it’s for fun.”
The creative credit goes to Joseph Schanbacher, a third-year student in the UNMC College of Medicine, who wrote the first stanza, Clayton Harris, a first-year UNMC College of Nursing student at the Northern Division in Norfolk, who wrote the second stanza, and J.T. Engberg, a fourth-year medical student, who composed the music.
They independently responded to the student senate’s call for lyrics and composers, emerging through the creative process and student body votes to become the winners of the fight song contest.
Schanbacher said he brought some casual experience playing guitar and drums over the years, although composing lyrics was something new. He said he was inspired by his appreciation of the UNMC community and its facilities that make the community possible, and he also found it satisfying to incorporate the Nebraska Medicine slogan.
Harris, who has a background in high school band and choir and continues in music with his ukulele, said he knew he wanted to create a call-response feel in the lyrics. Hence, the lines: “We’ve got the bark (bark bark). We’ve got the bite (bite). We’ll leave a mark (mark). We do things right (that’s right).”
He also came up with the “community and unity” line. All of UNMC’s health care professionals, he said, “must unite to promote safe, quality care to the people we serve – the community.”
Engberg brought his varied musical experience with piano, flute, marching band, choir and as a worship leader at church, along with knowledge of how to use the music app GarageBand. Engberg said he was inspired by his high school’s school song, marching in marching band with the drum cadence, the University of Nebraska at Kearney fight song and the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers’ fight song.
Said Harris, “I think the final result is great. The drive of the song is fantastic. I’m glad we were able to put something together.”
At last Friday’s Board of Regents meeting, the UNMC Fight Song filled what had been an awkward moment for UNMC’s student regent – when they’re asked to cap their time on the board by singing the campus fight song.
Former student regent Taylor Kratochvil, MD, said he still chuckles thinking back to when prepared “UNMC Hippocratic Hippos” to the tune of “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.”
“Now that we are officially the UNMC Labs,” said Dr. Kratochvil, who has moved on to his residency, “I’m excited for UNMC to have a song to further unify our growing campuses across the state.”
Schultis said it’s exciting to see so many UNMC students sporting UNMC Labs merchandise around campus. Maybe in the future, she said, incoming students will learn the fight song to sing together during orientation.
“I hope the mascot and fight song can help foster a sense of community and unity amongst our diverse student body by providing us with shared symbols and experiences,” she said. “But mostly, I want the students to have fun with it.”
Now this is really cool and something much needed. UNMC student regents will no longer have to dig deep to come up with something to sing at Regents’s meetings (I listened to decades worth!).
Makes a dad proud to see his son make notoriety in his Freshman year.