Wayne Community College recognized the 21 members of its Dental Assisting class of 2019 in a pinning ceremony held recently at the college.
The annual service denotes the end of the students’ academic journey and welcomes them into the dental profession. It includes formal presentation of pins to each graduate by the program’s faculty and introduction of the graduates to the audience as dental assistants.
This year’s graduates are:
Alyssa Price, Kristie Mitchell Waters, and Elizabethe Ann Weeks of Goldsboro;
Hannah Olivia Lee of Mount Olive;
Margarita Bautista-Lopez of Seven Springs;
Reina Hernandez-Gonzalez of La Grange;
Heather Jackson of Kinston;
Brooke Caroline Jackson of Newton Grove;
Sommer Brown of Beulaville;
Kayla Renee Hardee of Greenville;
Guillermina Mejia, Josinely Paredes Larios, and Brooke Lee Stroud of Wilson;
Berkley Anne Lyon of Fayetteville;
Kayla Joanna Milligan of Dover;
Allie Taylor Ellwood of New Bern;
Jordan Taylor Pierce of Washington;
Bayleigh Lynne Tilton of Clayton;
Cassandra Gleason of Knightdale;
Alissa Afraid of Lightening, of Rapid City, South Dakota; and
Kylie Nicole Austin, of Olney, Texas.
Five students were honored for outstanding performance. Each was presented a plaque.
Brown accepted the Clinical Achievement Award for both a high clinical grade point average and outstanding reviews from her rotation sites. It was noted that she had demonstrated excellent patient care, professionalism, enthusiasm, and self-motivation.
Paredes Larios earned the Academic Achievement Award for the highest grade point average while in the dental assisting program. The award is sponsored by the Foundation of Wayne Community College.
Hernandez-Gonzalez garnered the Expanded Functions Achievement Award. She exceeded the requisite number of these “extra” functions that dental assisting students can only perform in the last two semesters of their training.
Milligan won the Patient Care Award for overall positive attitude, and genuine care and concern for patients. In particular, Milligan was lauded as someone who “truly enjoys the dental assistant role.” Her name also will be added to a plaque that hangs in the college’s dental clinic.
Price was honored with the Outstanding Student Curriculum Award for the Dental Assisting Program. The award is given to the one student whose academic accomplishments best represent the program.
Austin, Lyon, and Waters were acknowledged for serving as officers in the Dental Assisting Student Association. Jackson, Lee, Milligan, Price and Tilton were recognized for their roles as Student Government Association representatives.
The Dental Assisting Class of 2019 presented a donation to the Foundation of Wayne Community College in appreciation for all that the foundation had done for the dental assisting students. Ellwood, the 2019 DASA treasurer, thanked the Foundation for its assistance with “necessities and scholarships.”
In his final words to the class, Dr. M.B. Patel, the dentist for the WCC Dental Department, encouraged the graduates to “hold onto your character as you face diversity.”
“Ultimately, it is the choice of the fundamental over the frivolous, preferring what is true over what’s accepted, the choosing of what is right over what is easy,” he said, quoting Gary Brochu.
Graduates who pass the Dental Assisting National Board examination can work as certified dental assistants.
Wayne Community College’s Dental Assisting Program is a limited-admission, three-semester diploma program. It is accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association.
Wayne Community College is a public, learning-centered institution with an open-door admission policy located in Goldsboro, N.C. As it works to develop a highly skilled and competitive workforce, the college serves around 12,000 individuals annually as well as businesses, industry, and community organizations with high quality, affordable, accessible learning opportunities, including more than 70 college credit programs. WCC’s mission is to meet the educational, training, and cultural needs of the communities it serves.
