Alison Gillam '23 couldn't wait for her next scheduled visit to the orthodontist. Plenty of kids put up a fight about dental checkups, but Alison always looked forward to the experience. Why? Her orthodontist was friendly, compassionate, and fun. Also, video games.
"At every checkup, you'd get rewarded for doing the right things, like wearing your rubber bands. Instead of a sticker, you'd get a wooden coin with the doctor's name on it that you could enter into a drawing to win prizes. He used to give away Nintendo Wii games. I won a Just Dance game once."
Those positive vibes at the orthodontist shaped Alison's passion for dentistry.
"I knew I wanted to do something in health care and dentistry always seemed more intimate. You get to know your patients snd watch kids grow up."
Alison's getting her first professional taste of family dentistry as a dental assistant for Sandu Family Dentistry in her hometown of Queensbury. Next year, she plans to attend dental school, but the May graduate decided to first take a gap year to jumpstart her career.
Alison would like to go into general practice dentistry and looks forward to making those personal connections that drew her to the field in the first place. She's already starting to develop relationships with her new patients, and she's found that her Siena education prepared her for the human side of the job.
"At Siena, you really learn to focus your energy on the right things. Siena prepared me for this opportunity, not just in professional terms, but how to communicate with people. I couldn't have been more prepared for this opportunity."
The Siena education, by reputation, is setting her up for the next opportunity as well.
"I just started shadowing a doctor who sits on the board at a dental school where I'm applying. The doctor told me they're always looking for good people and they trust that good people always come from Siena."
Originally, Alison was working part-time, but based on her performance this summer, she's now working full-time (until dental school in the fall). It makes sense – good dentists always come from Siena.