White Coat Ceremony

Saturday August 8^th was Josh’s white coat ceremony for dental school. In the morning there was a combined convocation for a few of the colleges where the deans of those schools spoke and the president spoke and they gave some encouraging words to the students. It was so cool to hear them talk about the future of health care and the wonderful providers that this class will become. Josh is going to be part of something huge and it is very exciting to see the beginnings of that. Then at 11:00 the individual colleges broke off and did their own white coat ceremony. This is a tradition that medical schools/dental schools do to give the students their sense of belonging so to speak in the health care community. The white lab coat is a reminder of their responsibility to the thousands of patients they will serve throughout their careers. Josh’s class has 12 different countries represented and over 14 different states. They are an extremely diverse group and I think that it is going to be a very interesting 4 years and will help us gain a tremendous amount of life experience. Doctor Bill Tenpaz was the key note speaker. He was the president of the ADA and also was part of many dental organizations including his own successful practice. He gave a very inspiring speech about being the right kind of dentist. He said that the oppurtuntity to have this quality education is one thing, but it is the responsibility of the students to get the most out of their educations and to make it mean something. He also said that how you handle dental school is a blue print of how you will handle your career. Tenpaz talked about how important the dental field is in the overall medical community. There are many diseases that manifest themselves in the mouth that a dentist can recognize and make arrangements for it to be dealt with further. It really gave us a sense of responsibility and pride for our career choice. He also urged the students to get involved in their communities and to share their abilities and talents with those around them. He gave them a word of advice to apply to their careers “ Don’t be the first and don’t be the last”. Also, he said to remember that what really matters is your family and your reputation and that it is a privelage to practice, not a right so they should be respectful of that. Where much is given, much is expected. He urged to have goals and to dream big but also to enjoy the journey. “If you have a lot in the bank but nothing in your heart, you have nothing.” I was so proud of Josh, to see him receive his White lab coat with his pin and everything was just so emotional. He has worked so hard to get to this point and I know that he is going to be a wonderful Dentist. He is already a wonderful husband and a great friend, and a good person. This is going to be a lot of hard work and require a lot of sacrifice and dedication but I know that he can and will do amazing things. I love you Josh, keep up the good work babe!!

This is Colby, Josh, and Jeff. 3 of the 4 LDS dental students at western

President Pumerantz

Dean Koelbl of the college of dental medicine

Dr. Joshua Carpenter

Dr. and Mrs Carpenter