Students fill the room with laughter as they engage in an anatomy-based trivia game. This is the scene in room 364 every Wednesday after school when the Dentistry Club meets.
While the Dentistry Club may be small, its members have a passion for helping one another with their early interests in dentistry and medicine and for peering into their future healthcare careers through games, conversations and guest speakers.
Co-leader and junior Haley Kim said she has always had a profound passion for dentistry. Now, she promotes the field to students who may not know a lot about it. Kim said the focus of the club meetings is to provide insight into the general industry.
“We’ve mostly been doing medical trivia or fun games that involve medicine to allow students to get more of a scope of the field,” Kim said.
Along with its activities, the club invites guest speakers to come and share their experiences. Last year, Harvard School of Dental Medicine student and author Jeremiah Kim came to share his own experiences and advice for members of the club and brought his children’s book, “The Mouth Guardians.”
Although junior and event attendee Maxm Thompson may not be interested in becoming a dentist, he said he learned a lot from Kim’s visit.
“Even though I didn’t know much about dentistry, he could still tell us about preparing for post-high-school stuff and our other interests,” Thompson said.
Club adviser Juan Paniagua said he enjoys the calm and encouraging environment that members of the club create.
“Students coming to the club are all very respectful and attentive to presentations,” Paniagua said. “They genuinely want to learn about the profession.”
Paniagua said he thinks the club’s leaders do a great job managing the challenging tasks that come with being leaders.
“They act very professionally and they are very engaged and passionate about the club,” Paniagua said.
Looking forward to the spring, the club is planning for upcoming projects and additional guest speakers. Kim said everyone who may be interested in dentistry or a similar field is welcome to join their club.
“It’s really nice to engage yourself with other students who are also interested in the same career path as you,” Kim said. “You can learn a lot from your peers and about the field that you’re going to be getting yourself into.”
