DH Conference

On Friday our first and second year dental hygiene students went to a dental hygiene conference in Des Moines, IA. We had to meet at the school bright and early to drive two+ hours to get there by 9am.

There were quite a few tables from other schools selling items, as well as many tables from companies giving out samples or selling things. I got LOTS of free toothpaste! ;-) The one table that I thought was pretty cool was from a former IWCC student who invented a way to protect our mouth mirrors that so easily scratch. I'm not sure how wide her market is right now, but its a GREAT solution so a problem that so many people have!!!

Her table. Showing the product to some of the second year students, with our DH director (and instructor) holding her baby.

We took turns sitting at our table selling our items. I think we sold quite a bit!

Getting ready for the first speaker of the morning.

Five schools of first and second year dental hygiene students eating lunch! Don't mess with a bunch of hungry gals (and one guy)!

Getting ready to take a class picture!

I love all the faces! They are quite entertaining! :-)

My class! (Minus one who refused to get in the pic...)

The one second from the left...I'm not sure why she didn't want to...

There was a lot of good information, as well as a lot of information that we had to plug our ears to as if we listened it would just scare us! haha I'm pretty sure we'll be going back next year and there will be different speakers.

Showing me some of her free loot!

During the drive, the majority of us studied on the way there and back.

There are three girls in the class that are within three months of each other, all of which are just turning 21. They are adorable! ;-)

More study pictures.
(I'm one of the two class historians, so my job is to take pictures during the next 19 months to help make the slide show for our graduation...tough job I know!)

One fell asleep because she wasn't feeling well, the other was trying not to crack up while taking this picture!!!

I'm finding that these ladies are quite entertaining, and very supportive. We are all going through the same thing, and as we get to know each other, we are able to talk about school/life/etc more. I thought it would be difficult to spend SO much time with 18 other women, but it hasn't been bad at all so far! I have always tried to help someone else out if they are running behind or just need a supporting word...and that has really helped me last week when I could hardly walk. I had a couple people help me set up my station in clinic, others would walk slowly with me from one class to the other, and one girl gave me her bag of ice after lunch to put on my ankle! Hopefully it will continue to go somewhat smoothly!!! :-)