STUDENTS Class of 2025 Up and Running

STUDENTS Journey Starts for Impressive DDS Class of 2025

The new first-year class of dental students at the School of Dentistry hails from all corners of Michigan and from coast to coast, with several international connections. The Class of 2025 was welcomed with a hybrid orientation that included online components and a more traditional, in-person arrival in late June. Their on-campus arrival was earlier than the one last year for firstyear students, who were delayed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 109 new class members were admitted from 1,867 applicants. They are closely split between Michigan residents (54) and outof-state students (55), a ratio that fluctuates from year to year. They earned undergraduate degrees from 17 Michigan colleges and universities, and from small colleges and major universities across the country. The out-of-state residents are from nearly all of the nearby Upper Midwest states, but many others in the western, southern and northeast parts of the country, including Alaska, California, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, New York and Massachusetts, to name several. One class member graduated from Peking University in China, and others have lived in Cuba, Nigeria and Jamaica. The undergraduate grade point average of the class is 3.8. Six of the students have master’s degrees. In a growing trend at dental schools across the country, women outnumber the men in the class, 64 to 45. Two students are in the school’s Oral Health Sciences program that offers a dual DDS/PhD degree. In her welcoming remarks to the students during an orientation Zoom meeting with the class, Associate Dean for Students Dr. Renée Duff said the class has impressive credentials. “We’re proud to have such a great group of future leaders with us in the Class of 2025.” Duff said she likes to compare the fouryear journey of dental school to climbing a mountain because it takes teamwork, just as climbing Mt. Everest requires a collaborative team to navigate the difficult route to the summit. She advised students to bond with classmates, faculty and staff. “You will need many if not all of these people on your team,” she said. “Whether you go through relaxed or white-knuckled, whether you lead the climb or anchor it, you will need to rely on each other at times in order to enjoy the journey and be successful.” Dean Laurie McCauley thanked the students for choosing the U-M School of Dentistry. She emphasized the long traditions of both the university and dental school. The

D1s Gabriella Ries (front) and Adam Grabowski focus on a procedure in the Sim Lab.

U-M mission calls on its graduates to “serve the people of Michigan and the world” while “developing leaders who will challenge the present and enrich the future.” She noted the mix of science and service that is the overall goal of the dental school – “to develop a highly skilled competent clinician with a deep understanding of the scientific foundation of dentistry, and the compassion to serve those in need.” “If you are accepted at the University of Michigan, it means we know you can accomplish all that we have to offer you,” McCauley said. “Our admissions policies are incredibly rigorous, which means that if you are here now, we know you will be successful, and we are with you to walk this path.”

D1s Lauren Okafor and Wiley Smith concentrate over their manikins during a class session in Sim Lab. D1 Jacob Herremans works with a rubber dam as he prepares for class in the Sim Lab earlier this semester. He is a third-generation U-M DDS student. His father, Thomas, an orthodontist in Grand Rapids, and his grandfather, Edward, a retired orthodontist, both have degrees from U-M and the dental school.

Amanda Guido’s blue-gloved hands, green rubber dam and handpiece are reflected in the lenses of her glasses as she works on a manikin in Sim Lab.