7th Annual MOM-n-PA
A Student Reflects
on MOM-n-PA
By Caroline Terry, Temple Kornberg
School of Dentistry
I am a fourth-year dental student at Temple University School
of Dentistry and on June 6-8 I attended my fifth MOM-n-PA
event in Wilkes-Barre. I participated in the first event in
Philadelphia in 2013, as well as the Allentown (2014),
Harrisburg (2015) and Reading (2018) events. I attended the
first event in Philadelphia as an undergraduate student
because I was interested in applying to dental school. Little
did I know that attending this event would introduce me to
people who would become lifelong mentors and spark an
even greater interest in dentistry.
When I attended the event in Allentown, I was a senior at
Lehigh University. I met Joanne Nyquist, the Dean of Students
at Temple Dental and spent the day assisting her in the
anesthesia department. We talked for hours about my
interest in dental school and I was able to ask her questions
about my application and what courses to take the following
year. Having the opportunity to spend that time with her was
absolutely invaluable. When I finally had my interview at
Temple, she knew exactly who I was and remembered our
time spent discussing my application. She has become a
mentor and an excellent resource throughout my time in
dental school. Without MOM-n-PA I would not have created
this type of relationship with her.
I have had many positions during my experiences at MOM-n-
PA. I have been a patient ambassador (walking patients to the
various departments), dental assistant, have taken hundreds
of radiographs in radiology and served as a Spanish translator
in medical triage. However, for the most recent event in
Wilkes-Barre, I no longer attended the event as a lay volunteer
or dental student but as Student Lead. This was a new
position created this year since in the past there had not
really been a way to organize the dental students to make
sure that every department had the help they needed.
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SE P T E M B E R/OC TOBER 2019 | P EN N S YLVA N IA D EN TA L J O UR N AL