DePaul University Pre-Dental Club

The New 2013-2014 Executive Board!

DePaul University — Sat, 11 May 2013 03:35:32 +0000

Here are your new officers for the 2013-2014 school year:

Co-President: Haydee Aznar
Co-President: Emily Shah
PR/Website Manager/Treasurer: Ian Sanchez
Secretary: Ariel Mitchell

Congratulations to the new board! New board members, please plan to meet with the old board members sometime soon so that we can pass off all the club contacts, account passwords, and other info needed to run the club. We will arrange a date soon, so keep an eye out for an email from us.

We had so much fun leading you all this past school year! We have every confidence that this new board will make the 2013-2014 even better than the last. Best of luck to all of you in pursuing your dental careers

Lauren Dixon, Gaby Perez, Nick Poulos, and Rana Sweis

Winter and Spring Quarter Updates

DePaul University — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:17:08 +0000

Hey all!

I apologize for delay in updating the club website. Many of us have been gearing up for the cycle to open this June 3, 2013. If you are planning on applying, the earlier the better! Get those recommendation letters in order and your personal statement/CV/resume finalized! The wait is over. Here is an update of what has been going on in the club recently:

January
In January, we had a panel of dentists come to DePaul to speak with the club and the new University of Chicago Pre-Dental Club about dentistry. We invited Dr. Peter Cabrera (Periodontist), Dr. Emily Williams (Orthodontist), Dr. Maria Simón (Pediatric Dentist), and Dr. Jeffrey Wojno (General Dentist). It was really nice to chat with the panel about their experiences in dentistry, especially because us pre-dents are so used to hearing about getting into dental school. Because we’re so focused on the whole application process, sometimes we forget to look into what happens after you dental school. It was a great learning experience for us to get different perspectives of dentistry, how it has evolved over the years, and the various specialties that can be pursued. We really appreciated that we had the opportunity to gain a better understanding of dentistry! Coordinated by Lauren Dixon.

DPDC Members at Midwinter Meeting 2013
(L to R): Gaby Perez, Nick Poulos, Lauren Dixon, Shaina Chechang, Rana Sweis, Haydee Aznar, Jihee Won

February
In February, a handful of members attended the pre-dental portion of Midwinter Meeting at McCormick place. Members really enjoyed listening to the presentations that included a mission abroad in the Middle East, as well as an exchange program in China. DPDC members in attendance included Haydee Aznar, Shaina Chechang, Lauren Dixon, Gaby Perez, Nick Poulos, Rana Sweis (coordinated DPDC participation), and Jihee Won.

March

We were fortunate enough to have a wonderful volunteering opportunity at Guadalupano Family Center in Pilson. DPDC members in attendance included Shaina Chechang, Lauren Dixon, Ruby Kaur, Gaby Perez (coordinated DPDC participation), and Jihee Won. We all really enjoyed talking about oral hygiene with the children at the center. Tina the Tooth made a surprise guest appearance and would giggle and dance when the kids took turns brushing her with a giant tooth brush.

DPDC Members Teaching OHI at Guadalupano Family Center
(L to R): Gaby Perez, Lauren Dixon, Shaina Chechang, Jihee Won, Rub Kaur

… And now, onto more current news.

April
Abby, an admission officer from Midwestern University College of Dentistry in Downers Grove, IL, came to chat with the DePaul Pre-Dental Club about the admissions process and what Midwestern looks for in an ideal candidate for dental school! Coordinated by Rana Sweis.

May
The time has come for elections. It’s time to pass the torch onto the younger DPDC members. I would highly recommend that all members be in attendance for this meeting, Friday, May 10th at 1:00PM in McGowan N. atrium, as you will be voting for the people who will lead you through this next upcoming school year. We strongly encourage you to run for a position. Holding an officer position in the dental club will look really good on your application because it shows how interested you are in the field and that you possess leadership qualities. The following officer positions are available to run for:

President
Vice President
Secretary
PR/Website Manager
Treasurer

If you are planning on running for a position, please be prepared to say a few words about the position you are seeking. It’ll be very informal.

This past year has been the best year for the dental club thus far. We didn’t have access to tons of volunteering opportunities when we were the younger club members, so we started off this school year with the hopes of giving you guys many things that we never had access to previously. We brought you shadowing opportunities, dental school visits, admission director visits, Pankey Days, dental panels, and oral hygiene visits to schools. We worked really hard this year to shape our club into the kind of student organization we had always envisioned and to begin to build you a network of dentists that would be more than happy to help you. We didn’t quite get to the fundraising or bonding activities as much as we would have liked to, but we have faith that you all won’t let us down and will continue help the pre-dental community grow at DePaul. To those who have been at every meeting and event, we truly appreciate how supportive and enthusiastic you have been! And to those who haven’t been able to be as active for personal or school reasons, we understand and hope that you make it a goal of yours to be more active next year!

Lastly, we hope that you will soon come to realize how important it is to be in the club in terms of networking opportunities. Yes, getting in is all about what you know, but part of it is also about who you know. It never hurts to make connections with dentists who might potentially take you under their wing or may even end up providing you with more opportunities than you ever imagined. Take advantage of every available resource to you and don’t give up.

If you are unable to make this last meeting, we wish you the best of luck in the remainder of your college career and hope that we will one day see you again as colleagues.

Your 2012-2013 Executive Board Members
President: Rana Sweis
Vice President: Gaby Perez
Secretary/PR/Web manager: Lauren Dixon
Treasurer: Nick Poulos

Midwestern University Visit

DePaul University — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:46:52 +0000

This past Monday, December 3rd, DPDC members Lauren Dixon, Nick Poulos, Chris Smith, and Rana Sweis (coordinated DPDC participation) visited Midwestern University. We were greeted by Abbey Walters, an admissions counselor, who guided us on a tour around campus and answered our questions. We were given an folder with tons of information about the school, including tuition rates, class statistics, and what the school looks for in an applicant.

Tuition. This 2012-2013 school year, the tuition rate is $60,774.
Prerequisites. What’s different from the other schools we have visited, is that MWU does not require that all prerequisites are completed at a 4 year university. Abbey said that this has to do with the fact that not everyone starts out at a 4 year university and that it’s not really fair to students that began their college career at community colleges because they were undecided or because of financial reasons.
MWU looks for well-rounded applicants. If you have 4.0 GPA and an amazing DAT score, but no shadowing experience, there is a chance that you will not be accepted. Good grades, competitive DAT scores, shadowing hours, volunteer work, knowledge of the field, and supportive letters of recommendation are what they look for in an applicant.

The campus was so open and bright! It had a feel that made you want to be there. We really liked seeing the SIM lab. It was filled with all the latest technology and busy, busy students! It was nice to see that even though there were a lot of students using the lab, that there were plenty of instructors walking around to help them. Because there are other programs available at MWU, a lot of times dental students may be taking a few classes with pharmacy or medical students, depending on the subject. It’s also nice that the campus is completely enclosed and that parking was free. As a dental student there, Abbey explained that classes are not just in one building, but are sometimes in different buildings, which isn’t that bad since the campus is relatively small.

Overall, we really enjoyed the tour. Abbey was quick to answer all our questions about the application process and what the school specifically looks for in an applicant. The school was beautiful and it reminded us of DePaul’s campus but not as urban. It’s a shame that not as many members were able to attend as we had hoped, but maybe we can do another tour in the future so that more students can attend.

Dental Brigades

DePaul University — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:43:59 +0000

Good luck to all who are going to Honduras with Dental Brigades this week (Nov 26th-Dec. 2nd)! Hope you all have a safe and wonderful experience.

Raya, Kiley Amanda, Roberto Estrada, Manpreet (Ruby) Kaur, Tomasz Kordes, Tijana Kujaca, Gabriela Perez (coordinated DPDC participation), Joanne Ramirez, Madeline Temple, and Erin Truman.

Look out for an upcoming post with photos and blurbs from the trip

UIC Pre-Dental Night

DePaul University — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 06:51:02 +0000

Hey guys!

I hope finals wasn’t too rough on you. This is just a brief summary of what went on for those who were unable to attend the UIC Pre-Dental Night event, which was held Thursday, November 15th. Members who attended the event included Lauren Dixon, Maddie Hiebel, Kyle Pikula, Susan Rhee, and Peter Straka. DPDC participation coordinated by Gaby Perez. Pre-dental students from the local universities were greeted by Carolyn Feller and Braulia Espinosa before shuffling into an auditorium for a formal welcome. After the welcome, staff members from UIC’s writing center gave a very helpful presentation on writing a personal statement. If you are interested in learning more about what was discussed during the personal statement workshop, you are welcome to email predentaldepaul@gmail.com. The pre-dental students were then introduced to the new curriculum at UIC and learned about the qualities that dental schools look for in potential students. Given the option of going on a tour of the school or sitting in on another presentation about the application process, DePaul members opted for a tour led by ASDA dental students. Afterwards, we were invited to try drilling on a model, which was a lot of fun. Susan seemed to really enjoy this activity because she has had much experience dental assisting, but no experience using a handpiece. Since a few of us had finals the following day, we unfortunately had to leave early before the last part of the event, a Q & A session with UIC dental students.

Overall, the event was very informative and we collected many handouts regarding the application process and UIC that I would be happy to send to whomever is interested. If you are interested, please email the club account.

Also, way to go, Tom Kordes! Tom presented his research on diatoms at the Math & Science symposium on Friday, November 9th. You should all be looking for research opportunities because not only is it a wonderful learning experience, but it looks great on your dental school applications.

2012 Math & Science Symposium. Tom Kordes presenting his research on diatoms.

Please keep a look out for an email this coming weekend regarding the holiday party in December! A final date will be decided by November 25th, based on whichever date had the most votes.

Lastly, we will be visiting Midwestern University dental school on Monday, December 3rd at 1:00PM. If you have not responded to the email that was sent out regarding this, please do if you are interested because we need an approximation of how many members are planning on attending. Look out for an email regarding this visit as well.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

November Meeting

DePaul University — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:24:16 +0000

Hey guys! Thanks to all who showed up our last meeting of 2012 this past Friday, November 2nd. Topics discussed at the most recent meeting include the following:

Give Kids A Smile Day. This is an event that was started by the ADA in 2003. Dentists, hygienists, assistants, and many other volunteers donate their time by providing free sceenings, treatment, and oral hygiene education to underserved children all over the U.S. Rana has already registered the club for this event, so keep an eye out for an email over winter break or January if you are interested in participating!
Volunteer opportunities. Using the Chicago Cares website, we can try and coordinate small group participation for volunteer opportunities in Chicago over winter break. The only issue with this is that the number of available spots in December appear to be between 5-8 for different events. It would be ideal if members can form small groups and pick from the available spots on the Chicago Cares site to participate in. We want to increase the volunteering opportunities our club participates in since dental schools do ask you about these experiences when you go for interviews!
Midwestern University Dental School visit. We have contacted the school about a visit, but have yet to hear back from them. When we are able to set up a date and time, we will notify members via email.
Dental student panel. We plan to set up a dental student panel in January 2013. It’s really helpful to ask the visiting students questions about their experiences with the application process and dental school. After all, that’s what you guys are interested in! Expect a Doodle Poll with different meeting times this December that we could possibly have these students visit. Chances are, this will be a meeting separate from the monthly meeting that we have been holding (most likely in the early evening), to be considerate of the visiting students’ school schedules. The most popular time slot will be the time that is selected for the visit.
Dental panel. Similar to the above dental student panel, we also plan to set up a dental panel in January or February 2013. I will be contacting various dentists, including a general dentist, endodontist, orthodontist, pediatric dentist, and oral surgeon. This will also be a separate meeting time in the early evening that will be voted on, also via Doodle Poll. For both of these panels, you may be required to come prepared with at least 2 questions. Depending on the time, we might or might not consider providing food and/or refreshments for our guests and the club, so also be prepared to donate some cash, as these events are to benefit all of us.
ASDA. As our club is still young, but quickly growing, we have found that only a small number of members are part of the American Student Dental Association (ASDA). We plan to have an active member of ASDA come to speak about the benefits of joining this organization. Participating in ASDA can “beef up” your application and keeps you updated about what’s happening in the dental world. Members can also participate in conferences that will be beneficial for networking with other pre-dents all over the U.S. You also get a discount with Kaplan!
The DAT (yikes). There was much discussion about the process of registering for the DAT. In order to register for the DAT, you must first have a DENTPIN that you can receive from the ADA website. Once an enrollment cycle is over, you cannot obtain a DENTPIN until the next cycle opens up. Rana suggested that you obtain your letters of recommendation as soon as possible, as that is usually what takes the longest when waiting to submit your application to dental schools. We discussed the pros and cons of the Kaplan DAT course, as well as wonderful supplementary materials such as Chad’s videos and Crack the DAT. Some members found that the Kaplan course was helpful in being prepared for the format of the test, but that the course alone was not a fool-proof means of studying. If you take the Kaplan course, you should definitely still review your own notes and books from previous classes and check out the supplementary materials previously mentioned.
Committee letter vs. personal letters of recommendation? This is just a matter of opinion. The DePaul College of Health and Science is fortunate enough to have an established pre-health committee now that you can submit your letters to in order to combine them into one committee letter of recommendation. Combining the letters runs a risk of parts of each letter being left out, but may also be to your benefit to have only one to submit. In the end, it is up to you.
Upcoming UIC Pre-Dental night. This event will take place Thursday, November 17th, from 5:00-7:00PM. Yes, this is during finals week (yuck!), but if you are finished and available to attend, it wouldn’t hurt to go. There will be a student panel, tour, admissions overview, and a personal statement writing session. The deadline is this Friday, November 9th. If you plan to attend, you must RSVP before then to make it on the list before Gaby submits it. If you are unable to attend, UIC holds similar events in the Spring as well, and DePaul has a personal statement writing workshop that you may attend.
Holiday party! This year, we would like to hold our first DPU Pre-Dental Club holiday party! Please visit this Doodle Poll (SO great for organizing!) and vote on the date that you like best! Most likely the party will be in the evening. The date with the most votes wins, so VOTE! A venue has not been decided on yet. If any members are willing to host the party, it would be much appreciated, and those participating would be expected to contribute beverages, food, cups, clean up, etc. We can also hold it at any restaurant of choice. Let us know!

I hope this has been helpful for all of you! As always, you are welcome to bombard the club email, predentaldepaul@gmail.com, with questions or concerns you may have. If we don’t get the chance to see you before our next meeting in January, we do hope that you have a wonderful break and enjoy the holidays! See you in 2013

Spooky Zoo!

DePaul University — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:37:31 +0000

DPU at Spooky Zoo (10/20/12)

This past Saturday, October 20th, DePaul Pre-Dental Club members participated with Chicago Dental Society (CDS) in Lincoln Park’s annual Spooky Zoo event! Members first attended the breakfast/orientation and then set up the tent location at one of the exhibits at the zoo. As the crowd lined up for tent, volunteers directed the crowd. The parents and kids were so excited when they saw the fruit and toothbrush displays! The children absolutely loved picking out a color for their toothbrush and showing off their super cute little costumes! And of course, the best part of our tent was the lovely Tooth Fairy that the kids could take pictures with! Participants included Haydee Aznar, Joanne Ramirez, and Farzana Razvi. Coordinated by Lauren Dixon.

One of the participants, Farzana, shares her favorite moment of the event:

I enjoyed seeing the disappointed faces as kids got toothbrushes and fruit instead of candy, while the parents were happy there was something healthy!

A big thank you to CDS for allowing DePaul Pre-Dental to participate! Thank you to all the members who participated in the event, with a special thanks to Joanne and Farzana for sharing their photos and experience at the event. See you all at the upcoming November meeting!

October Meeting

DePaul University — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 03:35:58 +0000

Hey guys!

For those of you who were able to attend the meeting today, it was good to see you again! I hope this past first month back at school hasn’t been too terrible for you all. Here’s a summary of what was discussed at this month’s meeting.

Website. This is the DePaul pre-dental club website! We hope this serves as a valuable resource so that you can remain updated with current and future events, as well as a refresher in case you’ve missed meetings.

Pankey Days & Marquette visits. Tom shared his experience in participating at Pankey Days and Heather recounted the club’s visit to Marquette. (See previous posts for more detailed information).

Upcoming volunteer opportunities.

Spooky Zoo at Lincoln Park Zoo. We plan to participate with Chicago Dental Society (CDS) in this event on Saturday, October 20th from 11:00AM-2:00PM. If you are interested in participating, please fill out the poll here. It is mandatory that if you plan to attend, that you must register with the Lincoln Park Zoo in advance. You must include your full name and your email address and please, only register if you really plan on attending.
Lincoln Park Homeless Shelter. Rana never received a response for an orientation date, unfortunately. We still plan on doing a visit at a homeless shelter and will let you know when we have decided on an alternative facility.
Kaplan visit. A representative from Kaplan would like to attend our next club meeting. Networking with a Kaplan rep is a great opportunity for our club! She plans to break down the different classes that Kaplan offers and methods of learning the materials (i.e. online, in class, private tutoring, etc.). This also provides club members with an opportunity to take Kaplan test prep courses at a slightly discounted rate. (Hey, every little bit counts nowadays!)
Shadowing opportunities. To those who requested contact information for dental offices with shadowing opportunities, the rather limited (sorry!) list was sent out. This is something we are wanting to expand on soon.

Fundraising. We discussed fundraising again. Some ideas we’ve discussed are:

Picking a restaurant once a month that will allow a certain percentage of their proceeds at a specific date and time to go towards the club. Maddie suggested that we pick a late-night restaurant like Devil Dawgs or Uncle Sammy’s.
Bake sale
Bar crawl with t-shirts. The only downside of this option is that our younger club members cannot attend! This was an option that a lot of members were enthusiastic about, but really, all the ideas that were brainstormed were wonderful.

For all of these fundraising events, we plan to save the money for the club so that the younger and future members can sponsor admission director visits, dental panel visits, transportation, etc. While this is important for the club, we should also consider an organization to donate proceeds to as well.

Global Brigades. Nicole had attended a Global Brigades meeting and is planning on attending during December Intercession! Again, this is an amazing volunteer opportunity. If finances are an issue, there are means of raising money to go. If you are interested or have any questions about this, please contact our VP, Gaby, who is the Director of Dental Brigades this year. Gaby is a wonderful resource for all things concerning this mission, so definitely direct all your questions regarding this to her!

Fliers regarding upcoming meetings. Unfortunately, we haven’t done a very good job of spreading the word about the club, in particular with fliers. This is something that we will definitely work on!

Thank you to all of you who were able to make it to today’s meeting! And to those who were unable to because of other obligations, we hope to see you at future events and meetings. As always, please email us at predentaldepaul@gmail.com if you have any questions. We are always happy to be a valuable resource to you guys. This club is for all of you, so any feedback or suggestions are much appreciated!

The next meeting is set for November 2nd. Keep an eye out for emails from the club with more updates. Please also support us by liking us on Facebook and following us on Twitter. See you around!

September UPDATE

DePaul University — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:44:33 +0000

Hey guys! Just an update of what has been going on.

Marquette Dental School Visit: Friday, August 31st, we went and visited with the director of admissions at Marquette Dental School, Brian, and he gave us a tour. The building was absolutely beautiful! Brian was very informative and honest about Marquette’s application process. Here’s some of the information that was shared with us during the tour and meeting:

Marquette takes roughly 50% of their students from Big 10 schools.
They take 40 out-of-state students (2 DePaul dental club alums are in this year’s D1 class!)
2800 applicants from IL vs. 200 from WI.
Do not accept applications later than mid-late August.
Interviews went out this year Sept 10-11 and they sent out roughly 288 this year.
Interviews generally take place in October/November. This is not generally how most dental schools do it, however. Marquette just happens to stress the early application process.
Grades are weighed more than DAT scores at MU. Getting a spectacular DAT will NOT remedy a poor college GPA at this school. He advised pulling up your grades to raise your GPA to the optimal range. (3.2 or greater). So definitely have consistent grades! They’d rather see your grades improving rather than your grades dropping.
Your GPA and DAT are important because they get you your interview. It’s at the interview where they figure out WHO you are, where your heart is at, and WHY you are there.
If you don’t get in the first time, when you reapply, consider what you did and didn’t bring to the table the first time around.
The personal statement is your time to tell the admissions committee about YOU. Don’t be afraid to address your weaknesses, explain your situation, and highlight what you want the committee to see.
The number of shadowing hours is important to a certain extent. For Marquette at least, the variety of offices you have shadowed looks better than just shadowing forever at the same office.

We plan on having Brian do a visit in the Spring to talk to us about this again! Coordinated by Rana Sweis.

Pankey Days 2012 morning shift!
L to R: Peter, Shaina, Tom, Ruby, Susan.

Pankey Dental Access Days: This mission was coordinated by Dr. Brad Weiss, Dr. Paul Fischl, and Dr. Marie Fischl, whose practice is located in Evanston. The event took place at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Center in Evanston, IL on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 7-8 all day. The club was so enthusiastic to help out and learn! We even had the opportunity to jump right into the action and dental assist or even just aid with suction during cleanings, since we were only limited to high-speed suctions. Attending members included Lauren Dixon (coordinated DPDC participation), Shiloh Golden, Ruby Kaur, Tom Kordes, Gaby Perez, Susan Rhee, Peter Straka, Rana Sweis, and Shaina.Check out the new additions under the “Photos” tab at the navigation bar for pictures from the event!

First Club Meeting of the Year: Our first club meeting of the year was this past Friday, Sept. 7th at 1:00PM in the McGowan N atrium. (This meeting time may or may not become permanent, it has not yet been decided at this time.) We covered a lot, but we wanted to stress that if you have any ideas for ANYTHING, don’t be afraid to speak up or email the club account about it! The club is for all of us and we want to make sure that everyone is getting the most out of it so that we can be a great resource for you. Our mission is to provide you with the information and opportunities that you need in considering applying for dental schools. Here are some points that we covered:

We plan on doing some oral hygiene education visits to elementary schools. The one coming up has not yet had a date set, but it will be at the daycare that Gaby’s mother works at.
In the past, we’ve done IMOM and Pankey Days, dental missions providing free dental/health care to underserved communities. Both of these events have passed, but we have another upcoming one in case you missed it! Gaby, the VP, is the Director of the Dental Program with Global Brigades this year, a dental/health care mission to Honduras that takes place over Winter Break. Missions and volunteer work as well as shadowing are important when applying for dental schools because you need to know what you’re getting into. You need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly of dentistry and still want it all. This is a fantastic opportunity especially since Gaby is also active with our club, and you can raise money for yourself to go if finances are an issue. If you want to attend an informational meeting, there is one tonight, Sept. 12th at 10:00-11:00PM in SC 380 (the Student Center). I’d highly recommend that you consider this opportunity. If you have any questions about Global Brigades or are interested in joining, contact Gaby at depaulGDB@globalbrigades.org with your name and letting her know that you are interested.
We are also planning on doing non-dental related volunteer work, such as visiting the Lincoln Park Homeless Shelter. Rana is coordinating this event and will send out an email when a date is set and with more information. Essentially, we would be purchasing food and serving it, but there will be an orientation that we need to attend prior to the actual event.
We want to fundraise! We have never done this before for the club and it’s not always easy to get funding from DAB since “Greek life” takes it all. We’ve thought about having a bake sale in the Student Center, possibly, but if you have any more ideas PLEASE send them our way. This would help provide funds for T-shirts, transportation to and from events, and we could also donate it to a charity of our choosing. If you have fundraising experience and have wonderful ideas, that would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!
Shadowing opportunities! We are attempting to put together a list of offices in the area that would happy to have members shadow at. Please be patient with us, as us officers are managing a full course load and going through the DAT/application process (yikes). If you want to be aggressive about shadowing though and light a fire under us, email the club
Recruitment! Tell your friends! We want to be bigger than we have been in the past. We plan on visiting some 100 level classes, so keep an eye out for an email from Rana regarding this.

And lastly. Guys, all this information is important and we want to work to be the best for you this year, but we also want us all to bond and gain a sense of camaraderie that will linger even when us old fart officers have graduated and moved on. We want to have activities that we can all do to bond, such as ice skating, bowling, BWW, bars (if you are 21+ of course), or whatever else. If you have any ideas about that, definitely speak up about it. We look forward to getting to know you all this year and serving you the best we can.

As always, if you have any questions email us at predentaldepaul@gmail.com or contact us on Facebook and Twitter.

Let’s have a wonderful year.

WGN Kids Health Fair

DePaul University — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 02:23:58 +0000

L to R: Susan, Jihee, Gaby, Lauren, Peter.

At about 4:30AM on Friday, August 10th, DePaul pre-dental club arrived at the WGN news studio to participate in the 11th Annual WGN Kids Health Fair. We were invited to volunteer with Chicago Dental Hygienists’ Society in distributing toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, and giving demonstrations for good oral hygiene habits. From our club, Shaina, Lauren Dixon (coordinated DPDC participation), Gaby Perez, Susan Rhee, Peter Straka, and Jihee Won volunteered. Dentists and hygienists that also participated in the event were able to provide free screenings and fill out school forms for children as well. A huge thank you to Mary Sturgeon and Chicago Dental Hygienists’ Society for providing us with this wonderful volunteer opportunity. Click below to view some video footage from the event!

WGN Kids Health Fair Dental Booth Video Footage

We are looking forward to participating in the upcoming Pankey Dental Access Days and having another opportunity to share our passion for dentistry with others! Check out the rest of the photos from the WGN event under the “Photo” tab and don’t forget to email the club at predentaldepaul@gmail.com if you are interested in participating in Pankey Days!