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There are no laggards in "Lazyeye"

If your mental image of a medical student is of someone holed up in a library carrel, think again. Or, better yet, check in with the members of Lazyeye, a rock "cover" band (meaning they play songs made famous by other bands). Although the typical Dartmouth medical student engages in a variety of volunteer and extracurricular activities, the band's members say that "we don't see anybody else that devotes as much time to extracurricular activities as we do." They practice together up to four times a week.

Drummer Pete Burrage and guitarist Ian Paquette are two of the five DMS students who make up a rock band that goes by "Lazyeye."
Photographs: Megan Jenkins

But the Lazyeyes are no slouches academically: Mike Meuse, Matt Crowley, and Ian Paquette are finishing their fourth year and heading off to residency programs in radiology, internal medicine, and surgery, respectively. Will Nugent is a third-year who is simultaneously pursuing an M.B.A. at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. And drummer Peter Burrage "trumps us all," according to Paquette—he's an M.D.-Ph.D. candidate.

Why the name "Lazyeye"? "I wish there was some kind of interesting story behind how we came up with it, but actually we were just looking for a one-word name that sounded catchy, and somehow stumbled on this one," says Paquette.

The group's practices, and a full schedule of performances, are a good way to decompress from the rigors of medical school, say the musicians. "The whole thing gives us a good outlet—a little bit of energy to focus on something outside medicine. We think about other things for a little while, and we focus better on medicine when we go back to it," Paquette explains.

The group, which got together three years ago, performs at nightspots in the area and has also done benefits for local charities, including Headrest and Haven House.

Although they've enjoyed the band, and devoted a lot of time to it, the students' career choices are firm. "Medicine is pretty competitive, but the music industry is even more so," says Meuse. "We'll probably all stick to medicine." M.M.C.

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