DMD and AS Classes of 2013 Don White Coats During Family Weekend
The White Coat Ceremony marks the midway point of the students’ education and celebrates their transition from the classroom to the treatment center. Students will now begin managing the comprehensive oral healthcare of their assigned patients and providing them with needed treatment in the fifth and sixth floor treatment centers of the Dental School.
Director of Predoctoral Removable Prosthodontics Dr. Ronni Schnell served as the Chief Marshall of the Ceremony Processional. Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter welcomed the assembled students and their families.
He said, “The students here today from the DMD Class of 2013 and the Advanced Standing Class of 2012 came to me and expressed a sincere interest in not only reinstating the ceremony, but reimagining it. They wanted to invite and include their families in this most important rite of passage and I cannot tell you how much it means to them and to me that so many of you are here with us for this important occasion.” He continued, “Although they have had the opportunity of treating patients since they began their dental education, they are about to begin the very important phase of their education in which they manage their own assigned patients and provide comprehensive oral healthcare to them. In so doing, they hone their clinical skills in their chosen profession of dentistry. That they have elected to mark this transition in such a formal and solemn manner in front of their families tells me and my faculty that they are indeed ready for the new challenges ahead.”
The assembled group then heard from student speakers: DMD Class President Josh Quinby, AS Class President Kinnar Shah, and DMD Class Treasurer Parsia Koleini. The faculty speaker for the Ceremony was Associate Dean for Clinical Education, Dr. John Guarente. Dr. Guarente shared with the students the decisions and hard work that led him and the others in the room to the field of dentistry.
He also talked about creating and maintaining professionalism as a dentist explaining, “Professionalism has several elements: service, hard work, learning to deal with failure, being self-competitive, using knowledge and ethics to make decisions, and having a personal mission statement.” He added, “There are two final items for this list that I did not speak of, but I would ask that you use as the secret ingredient to your professional recipe: be nice and smile. I thank you for the opportunity to speak with you and I look forward to being a part of your professional careers and wish you all the best.”
Following the speeches, as Dr. Guarente read their names, the students were presented with their white coats by faculty members Drs. Joseph Calabrese, Richard D’Innocenzo, Michelle Henshaw, Cataldo Leone, Janet Peters, and Tina Valades, and congratulated by Dean Hutter before exiting the stage. The Ceremony closed with Dean Hutter leading the students in the reading of the Professional Oath, the same oath they took at the Professional Ceremony during their respective orientations. After the Ceremony, a reception for the students and their families was held at the Hyatt.
Photos of the weekend are available on facebook (Album 1 and Album 2) and flickr (Album 1 and Album 2).