Almost 100 Students Show Up to Class Dressed as Their Professor
On what seemed like an ordinary school day, nearly 100 students at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine (RSDM) pulled off an extraordinary prank. Wearing black hoodies and baseball caps and carrying bottles of flavored water, 94 students marched through the hallways looking exactly like Associate Professor of Restorative Dentistry Nicholas DePinto. Then they ran into the real Dr. DePinto.
“It was just a parade of Dr. DePintos, who intersected with the real Dr. DePinto himself,” said Anthony Giuditta of the Class of 2029 with a laugh.
Giuditta, one of the masterminds behind this effort, got the idea during class. DePinto had assigned small-group presentations and encouraged students to have fun with it. As inspiration, he shared a story about a former student who once dressed up as him for a presentation and earned a perfect score.
Giuditta saw an opportunity.
He pitched the idea of having the entire class dress up like DePinto to classmates Neelay Desai, Olivia Oberman, and Sara Pecorelli. Getting an enthusiastic nod, he wrote a message to the class. Next thing he knew, everyone was in. The night before, the group chat blew up with pictures of outfits. Giuditta spent the week perfecting his DePinto impression. By 7:45 a.m., 94 additional “Dr. DePintos” were ready to go.
“It’s really unique that a group of almost a 100 adults can agree to do something as funny as dressing up as their professor and pranking him, but it just really goes to show the special bond that we all have,” said Pecorelli, who is part of the class’s social media team, along with Demitra Rooyakkers, Samantha Hennen, Alyssa Kchkouryan, and Sophia Vicenzino. The prank video by Rooyakkers went viral instantly, getting over 12.5 million views. “This was just supposed to be a random class inside joke, and it turned into entire world knowing,” said Pecorelli.
Even DePinto was impressed and wrote on social media: “this was hilarious!!! Cannot believe all 94 of you actually pulled this off. Apparently having me for 4 courses wasn’t enough… you had to become me too 💀😂 Love you guys back!!”
Soon, major brands joined the fun.
Social media platform Threads asked: “So who’s teaching the class now.” DePinto's signature water brand, Hint, crowned him “OUR KING DR. DEPINTO” and sent cases of water that became his makeshift throne. The company also gifted a mini fridge and hoodies to the entire class. “Dr. DePinto had a line of people signing the back of their hoodies,” said Desai, the class treasurer, who ordered the flavored water on prank day.
Amidst all the fun, the class also had two exams that week. “Every time we got out of another major assessment, we were just all congregating outside, and we would have another couple million views,” Oberman said. “The whole thing speaks a lot to our cohesion and culture as a class.”
Pecorelli said their goal was simple.
“Dental school is already pretty stressful, so anytime you can make people smile even a little bit makes the day a little better,” he said. “The most fulfilling part was seeing how much positivity it brought because imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Dr. DePinto is a fantastic faculty member.”
Watch the viral video here with a follow-up with Dr. DePinto’s throne here.
