A 20-year-old Massachusetts college student died after choking in a food eating contest on Saturday afternoon.
Madelyn “Maddie” Nicpon, a junior who played lacrosse at Tufts University, choked on a hot dog during a charity contest and was taken to Mt. Auburn Hospital, the Journal News reported. Nicpon, nicknamed “Scooter,” later died at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“We are writing to share the sad news that a member of our community, Maddie Nicpon, class of 2023, has passed away following an accident Saturday afternoon,” the university wrote in a press statement Monday.
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A New York native, Nicpon become the president of the class of 2019 at Suffern High School and the co-president for the National Honor Society at her school prior to attending Tufts, where she was a biopsychology major.
Nicpon was a “true friend and teammate,” the Tufts lacrosse team wrote in an Instagram post. “She truly valued her relationships with her teammates and her coaches.”
“She has and will continue to inspire us every day,” the post continued, adding that everyone should want to be more like Scooter, who valued “love, loyalty, compassion and friendship.”
Around 3,000 students, faculty, and staff from the university turned out to attend a candlelight vigil Sunday evening in honor of Nicpon, according to the university statement.
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“The number of community members who turned out to lend support to each other, to Maddie’s friends, and to her family was a testament to how many lives Maddie touched during her time at Tufts,” the university added.
In 2017, a student from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut died after choking during a pancake eating contest. The university subsequently reportedly tried to argue that the student was at fault.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Tufts University and the Tuft’s Lacrosse team for a statement but did not receive a response.
