Extracurricular Activities
Working out, reading, hiking, snowboarding
A Little Bit About Me
My name is James, and I am majoring in Dental Hygiene. I chose to go into dental hygiene because in late 2019 through late 2020, I was deployed overseas to the Horn of Africa, specifically to Somalia. While over there, we had a severe lack of access to care besides or unit medics, so we all worked with each other to get what we needed done. Part of that was people on the base coming to me for oral health advice because everyone thought I had nice teeth. When I got home, one of my friends was doing the pre-recs for the program and introduced me to the idea, and I enjoyed it a lot. Since then, I have continuously proven to myself why that was a good idea.
Why I Chose Oregon Tech and My Major
I chose OIT because it was close to home (Rogue Valley) and offered a bachelor's degree in my major, Dental Hygiene.
My Influential Professors
They all have been very influential. I would say that the most influential has been Professor Chavarin though. She does outreach as her main job, which is what I want to eventually do as my long-term goal. Along with that, she has encouraged me to think outside of the box and do things differently than what I was taught to allow me to treat patients to the best of my ability.
My Greatest Learning Experience At Oregon Tech
My greatest learning experience has been treating more difficult patients in the clinic, allowing me to significantly improve my quality of care even for easier patients.
My Plans After Graduation
I will plan on working at my home dentist office for a while and eventually move into doing outreach within the Rogue Valley to provide to those that have a lack of access to care.