NMDA Journal Summer 2018

25 nmdental.org NEW DENTIST COMMITTEE New Dentists Send-Off Future New Dentists of New Mexico By Joe Gherardi, DDS— New Dentist Committee Chair The spring semester for college students is over. That means that we held our annual Dental Student Send-Off Dinner event. Every year the New Dentist Committee and NMDA members hold a dinner for all of the students who have been accepted to dental school and are matriculating this upcoming summer/fall. We do our best to collect all of the names from across the state and give all the students an invite to this event to give us a chance to introduce ourselves as a resource to them as they begin their dental education and careers. This year, from what we gathered, there are seven students entering the next class of dental students. The schools they are attending include familiar schools and WICHE programs to many of us. They range from Creighton and UNLV all the way to Michigan. This is a great tradition that we started, and it is a personal favorite event that I look forward to every year. Seeing the nextwaveofyoungdentists andtheexcitement andvigor that they have to take their next big step is always encouraging and refreshing to see. This year’s class was no exception. We met the students and their spouses/significant others at Matanza Bar & Grill in Nob Hill and spent the better part of three hours eating and getting to know them a little. We give them all a little insight as to what to expect of dental school and answer the many questions and curiosities that they have. And since we have several member dentists attend the event we have a good sampling of different dental schools that we can give relevant information to students going to those particular programs. Going forward we will keep in touch with these students each year and answer any future questions that they have. Our goal to maintain a line of contact with them all and be on their radar as a valuable association once they graduate and come back to practice in New Mexico. This year’s event was a great success and we wish the best of luck to all the class of 2022 dental students. Best of Luck