« Meghan's Reflection #2 | Main | Maxie's OMNII Lunch and Learn Reflection »
November 24, 2006
Maxie's SADHA Day Reflection
Waking up after a long night of bonding with my fellow classmates, getting to know them outside of classes and realizing how grateful I am to have so many friends supporting me throughout the Dental Hygiene Program, I was eager to meet the other women in my profession. I received my University of Michigan nametag and wore it with pride as I met the other Dental Hygiene students early in the morning at SADHA Day. The LCC students hosting this event were very welcoming and excited to share news about their new facility while I informed them of our programs accomplishments. I was hoping to do this with many of the schools, but to my disappointment there wasn’t much of a chance to get to know the other hygiene students. In reality, I only got to meet two or three other students and it was only when they presented about their schools when I really was able to learn about their programs.
I was hoping to meet more people at the roundtable discussions, but to my surprise there was no discussion or communicating with the other women at all. Instead I was lectured for forty-five minutes and had no opportunity to ask questions or make any discussion. Although disappointed with the lack of discussion, I was very pleased with the roundtables that I was placed at. To my surprise I was given my top two choices that reflect both my personality and my interests. The first roundtable discussion I participated in was about the Special Olympics. As someone who has volunteered her whole life and active in all kinds of philanthropic organizations I was very interested in being a part of the Special Olympics. The speaker gave me all the information necessary to sign up for the event and informed me of organizations such as Special Smile that I was not aware of. She described a dental hygienists role at the Special Olympics and she encouraged me to volunteer. The speaker told us how happy it makes the athletes when they receive a bag full of dental goodies and that there is a long line of athletes just waiting to receive their free toothbrushes. The way she described the happiness that the athletes felt when they approached the Special Smile table inspired me to participate in this Special Olympics event.
When it was time to get seated for the next roundtable I was hoping it would be about test anxiety because that is something that I have been struggling with since first grade and amazingly it was! At this table she had a power point and informed us with strategies to help us take exams. After she lectured she made us take a deep breath because she stressed that if we don’t breath then we wont do well on an exam. I have yet to try this, but hopefully allowing oxygen to fuel my brain will assist me on relaxing while taking an exam and relieving this feeling of stress.
Overall, SADHA day was exciting because I was able to learn about the other Dental Hygiene programs through their presentations, I was given both the round tables that I desired and the most exciting part of it all was that I won a door prize! I was surprised that we didn’t discuss much about dental hygiene, new products and other hygiene issues. I didn’t know what to expect when coming to this event and was surprised that we were lectured on diversity. At first I wasn’t impressed, but half way through the presentation I realized that diversity is a very important part of our profession and what she had to say was both important and very informative. I realize that some took offense to the presentation, but she specialized in Jim Crow and thought that if she focused on what she knew best she would get her point across the strongest. Throughout the presentation, I too was shocked that she focused on African Americans, but in the end she used examples from several other cultures and I realized she did not mean to offend anybody. If only everybody could have realized this. Even though SADHA day was not exactly what I expected I did enjoy it and it was a great experience.
Posted by mroumani at November 24, 2006 10:16 PM