Home to Hygiene- Jocelid’s Story

Home to Hygiene is a miniseries of Blogs featuring stories from the incoming class of Dental Hygiene students, the Class of 2020.  

My name is Jocelid Carreno. I’m originally from Venezuela, but because of my father’s work in international business I have had the opportunity to live in four different countries in my short twenty-four years of living. Every time my family and I had to move to another country, I thought of those moves as golden opportunities to take advantage of. I experienced that first-hand when I had to move to Argentina, but could attend an American International school. As Spanish is my first language, it was a challenge for me to adapt to a new school without having the same language skills as my classmates.  With persistence and effort, however, I managed to become bilingual. This changed me forever, I have met and shared moments with people from all over the world which has opened my mind. The same happened when I went back to Venezuela after living abroad. My interest in dentistry started when I was just a child; even then people’s teeth caught my attention and would always want to see people light up with a smile. Set on becoming a dentist, I enrolled in one of the best universities in Venezuela. But, life there became more and more dangerous for my family and me. My family and I decided to move once more, but this time for good. Since then, I’ve finally found my footing here in the United States, and I know clearly what my goals in life are. But, I’ll never forget that feeling of uncertainty and strangeness of being thrust into a new world.

Moving to Michigan was in many ways a new blessing, granting me a wider range of opportunities for my life. It has the best dental school in the United States. As soon as I arrived here I found a job as a dental assistant working alongside University of Michigan alumnus. My mind opened to a new profession that I was not aware of: dental hygienist. As a member of this dental team I get to experience what the profession is really about and how fundamental a hygienist is to the overall dental team. I immediately fell in love with the profession, I will still be pursuing my dream of being in the dental field, but helping people through a different way. Transferring to the Dental Hygiene program at the University of Michigan would certainly allow me to continue my journey and provide me with the skills necessary to achieve my goal. I chose this program for many reasons; the small class sizes, the opportunity of getting Bachelor’s degree in Science, and having the opportunity to work in the outreach rotation program, just to name a few. For all these reasons and more, this program is the best option to pursue my dream of becoming a hygienist and advise people while perfecting the smiles of many. I am beyond grateful to be part of Dental Hygiene class of 2020 and I’m looking forward to the opportunities and challenges the program has to offer.

Jocelid starts classes this fall with the DH2 Class of 2020.  We can’t wait to have you, Jocelid! For more information about our Dental Hygiene degrees, see: myumi.ch/Lo0kN