The first class of dental hygiene students at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry West Division will graduate May 7.
The graduation will take place at 5 p.m. in the auditorium of the UNMC College of Nursing West Division, 4502 Avenue I, in Scottsbluff.
Graduating are Kelsey Dorsey, of Arcadia; Heather Howell, of Newcastle, Wyo.; Sara Lien, of Gering; and Sheri Printz, of Sidney. Dorsey will receive the outstanding clinician award, and Lien has already received the Nebraska Dental Hygiene Association’s outstanding student award. All of the students will receive a bachelor of science in dental hygiene.
“All of the graduates have been outstanding students,” said Todd Junge, coordinator of the west division dental hygiene program for the UNMC College of Dentistry. “I’m really proud of these students,” Junge said. “Not only for being the first, but also for overcoming any hurdles that come with starting a new program and for making the best of any opportunities given them.”
UNMC expanded its dental hygiene program to Scottsbluff/Gering in 2003 with help from a state grant. The goal was to make the program more accessible to students living in western Nebraska and to provide much needed access to dental care to panhandle residents.
In the past two years alone, the four graduating dental hygienists have seen more than 1,000 patients. “That includes patients coming into the clinic, on rotations and during outreach to local schools,” Junge said. “These students have had a hectic two years, in terms of outreach they have participated in, as well as their regular classes and clinic duties.”
Besides going to classes five days a week and working in the clinic at least 12 hours or more a week, some of the activities the students have participated in include: a three-day rotation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; dental health screenings for Mitchell (Neb.) Public Schools; and the 2004 Dental Day event in Alliance.
“We’ve also driven to Omaha to help with the sealant program and to the College of Dentistry campus in Lincoln for Children’s Dental Day,” Junge said.
The UNMC College of Dentistry’s dental hygiene program is a two-year, bachelor’s degree granting program. Students enter the program after they complete two years of undergraduate prerequisite courses.
The Scottsbluff/Gering students “attend” classes via distance learning at Panhandle Community Services (PCS) in Gering. The PCS is also where they do any clinical training.