Wayne State dentistry students traveled to the Lincoln College of Dentistry last week to see where they expect to study after leaving WSC. The students are in the Rural Health Opportunities Program (RHOP).

“Wayne State takes RHOP students to the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC),” coordinator of the dental and dental hygiene programs within RHOP, Shawn Pearcy, said. “And they spend a couple of days just visiting the institution where they will eventually continue their educational pursuits.”

The visit also included Chadron State College RHOP students, and the two-day itinerary was full.

Students met the director of Admissions, Merlyn Vogt, and the dean of the College of Dentistry, Janet Guthmiller, who helped answer their questions about dental school and the application process.

They had lunch and dinner with current students at UNMC, all from the college of dentistry and former RHOP members, who were able to answer other questions about the school.

Pearcy said that three of the students on the trip are in pre-dentistry and three are pre-dental hygiene. The WSC students also observed at the college’s clinic and visited Memorial Stadium, he said.

Emily Reimer is one of the sophomores who went on the trip. She is a pre-dental hygiene major and will be at the college in Lincoln next year.

“Going on the trip really helped because I didn’t know what the entire application included,” Reimer said. “But I talked to the women in charge of the dental hygiene program and she talked to us all one-on-one and answered all of our questions about that.”

Reimer appreciated the clinical observations the students did at the Lincoln location and meeting current students.

“We got to sit in on a clinic observation with some girls already attending there,” Reimer said. “It answered some of my questions and made me really excited to go there because I was able to see an average day of what my life will be like when I go there next year.”

The trip was successful, according to Pearcy, because students were able to get their questions answered and their fears calmed.