{"id":140845,"date":"2018-08-22T11:41:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T15:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?post_type=school-college-post&p=140845"},"modified":"2019-01-28T16:42:42","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T21:42:42","slug":"class-2022-sets-sail-uconn-school-dental-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/08\/class-2022-sets-sail-uconn-school-dental-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Class of 2022 Sets Sail at UConn School of Dental Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

During its annual White Coat Ceremony on Aug. 17 UConn School of Dental Medicine<\/a> officially welcomed its incoming class of 48 first-year students hailing from across Connecticut and the nation. In fact,\u00a048 percent of the new dental students are Connecticut residents.<\/p>\n

Dr. Steven Lepowsky<\/a>, senior associate dean for education and patient care, kicked-off the special event: \u201cWelcome to the class of 2022,\u201d said Lepowsky. \u201cThe White Coat Ceremony is a traditional rite of passage into our healthcare community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lepowsky shared how the tradition of gifting each incoming student in training with a white coat continues from UConn dental school\u2019s first ceremony in 1997.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe white coat is a symbol of trust that society places in you,\u201d Lepowsky informed the new dental students. \u201cWe have tremendous confidence in our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, the White Coat Ceremony welcomed the dental school\u2019s incoming new dean Dr. Sharon M. Gordon<\/a>. She is the 7th<\/sup> dean in the dental school\u2019s history and the first woman ever in the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for letting me be a part of this special day,\u201d said Gordon addressing the dental students. \u201cI join in the enthusiasm of donning the white coat. It symbolizes the foundation of our dental sciences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon added: \u201cYou will earn it through blood, sweat, tears \u2013 and yes, saliva. Like Superman\u2019s cape, it is not a source of power, but an icon of duty. Let it serve as a constant reminder of your service and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fourth-year dental student, Wanjin Kim, also addressed the fresh class of students promising them: \u201cHere you\u2019ll see how much more there is to dentistry then you ever imagined. We hope you enjoy this incredible journey. UConn School of Dental Medicine is truly one of the top dental schools in the U.S. and it\u2019s an absolute privilege to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

New members of the incoming Class of 2022 couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really excited,\u201d said Dimitri Adamidis, 24, of Rocky Hill who graduated from Trinity College and chose UConn dental school for its small class size and innovative, team-based learning curriculum. \u201cThis is a really special day to officially join the community of dentists. The white coat has a lot of weight to it, and symbolizes to me always putting patients first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school is preparing us already to be successful future dentists,\u201d shared Christian Watkins, 23, joining UConn from the University of Central Florida. \u201cI am thrilled. Everyone is so nice here, plus we walked into brand new facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people here are just amazing,\u201d shared Robert Violette, 22, of Wallingford. \u201cI went to undergrad at UConn, and I am part of the UConn family still.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, sharing words of wisdom with the new class of dental students was Connecticut State Dental Association (CSDA) President Dr. David Fried, also an UConn alum.<\/p>\n

\u201cI welcome you to the best profession in the world and good luck,\u201d Fried said. \u201cRest assured, you are in the right place. Your ship is setting sail at UConn, and you have the best accommodations and facilities. You will emerge as dentists.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UConn School of Dental Medicine has welcomed its incoming class of 48 first-year students hailing from across Connecticut and the nation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":140956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2166],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1873],"class_list":["post-140845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sdm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 15:13:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140957,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140845\/revisions\/140957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/140956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140845"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=140845"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=140845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}