D1s Survived Midterms!

D1s relax after midterms: (top left to right) Swathi, Tristen, Karra, Lora (bottom left to right) Awara, Jennifer, Saliah, Brittney, Cristen

Midterms these past 2 weeks were never ending.  “This too shall pass” is my motto that keeps me going for the next 4 years.  It seems like every week there are numerous projects, assignments, exams and quizzes due..and at the end of the week i am surprised i completed them all!  Review sessions have been helpful this semester since the lecture podcasts are functional. The courses this semester are starting to relate to each other, from salivary glands in Orofacial Complex, to pH and mineralization in Cell and Molecular Biology and Cariology, to secretory IgA in Infection and Immunity.   Although the semester at times seems overwhelming, it always balances out in the the Pre-Clinic when learning to place rubber dams, liners and sealers, and integrating our friend G.V. Black’s classifications on cavity preparations.  This semester I made time to attend a meeting on the school trip to Guyana, and i was hoping the trip would be over Spring Recess, but there were scheduling conflicts that made it impossible.  So hopefully D2 or D3 year, I’ll have something to look forward to.  My family is the host family in Guyana, South America, and they have been working with dentists and schools around Michigan to annually send a dental team to Guyana to set up a temporary dental clinic in the community.  It would be incredible to be able to go to Guyana, knowing that my parents were born and raised there, because it always makes me wonder if my parents never emmigrated from Guyana to Toronto, Canada if I would have been born in Guyana.  This is why it’s so important to me, and this is also the reason why I decided to go to dental school at University of Michigan-  I would be part of that community going to visit the dental clinic.   Before I got to dental school I thought it would be daunting having to be around the same group of people everyday, but as large as our class size is, I haven’t seen my friends lately because we’re all busy assisting in different clinics, participating in different grand rounds groups, and working on separate case study assignments.  But when midterms are over, I still have my D1 friends outside of school where we can laugh out loud while enjoying potluck dinner over the weekend…and I’ll see most of them on Sunday in the pre-clinic trying to finish up the Form 1 project.

Lora Kewallal (Arlene Kewallal) is a D1 student