Page 19 - Dentistry Magazine 2021

The committee are finalists for a $20,000 grant from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and several other grants are in the works. Additionally, an apparel sale raised $1,700 in the fall, with another one planned for this spring.
Students also stepped up with educational efforts through partner- ships with Portico Healthcare and the Holland Center. Volunteers held free monthly educational sessions for students, faculty and residents in partnership with the Holland Center, a health care center focused on children with autism, to help dental professionals better treat children with special healthcare needs.
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ment to outreach experiences, trav- eling throughout the state to provide care to communities in need.
Giving back at the school did not look the same as it might in a typical year, but the school’s students, faculty and staff demonstrated their commitment to serving their commu- nity, no matter what it looked like.
Celebrating community
For students, the measures enacted to combat the pandemic felt like a rug being pulled out from under- neath them. “At first, it was as if this thing I have been working toward for more than twenty years was finally
in sight, and then suddenly out of reach,” explained Kira Powell, DDS ’20. “With so many of us being type-A personalities in dentistry, it can be hard to have so much uncertainty surrounding us.”
Though nothing could take away that fear and uncertainty, School
of Dentistry students, faculty and staff did everything they could to come together as a community. In April 2020, past and present visiting scholars from Brazil, China, Egypt
I am humbled and grate-
ful to see how the dental profession has pulled t”ogether through this.
Kira Powell, DDS ’20
A Give Kids a Smile website, provid- ing oral health tips for parents of children, launched later in the spring semester.
Though in-person care could not happen, the event’s spirit continued. Give Kids a Smile is perhaps the most visible example of community care at the school, but the commu- nity continued its commitment to reducing barriers to oral health all year long. In June 2020, students, faculty and staff supported the Minnesota State Board of Dentistry in the distribution of 25,000 masks over the course of two days. The Dental Therapy Student Association partnered with Feed My Starving Children in April 2021, packing 46 boxes with nearly 10,000 meals. And students continued their commit-
Feature 19
November 5, 2020
November 19, 2020
School of Dentistry students volunteered with Feed My Starving Children, giving their time to pack enough meals to feed 27 children for a year.
December 14, 2020
President Gabel announces a shift to virtual learning for the rest of the fall semester
Governor Walz announces First doses of the COVID-19 a return to restrictions amid vaccine arrive in Minnesota rising cases