Springfield City Wire

STCC CELEBRATES DENTAL ASSISTANT GRADUATES

Springfield Technical Community College honored Dental Assistant graduates with a pinning ceremony that celebrated their academic achievements and welcomed them into the profession.

The pinning ceremony was the first since the program relaunched at STCC in January 2022, with a move to run the program across a calendar year using afternoon and evenings to ensure access.

Students in the one-year Dental Assistant program train to receive certificates and face a high-demand job market. All six dental assisting graduates have been offered positions at dental offices.

Vital members of a dental team, dental assistants perform a variety of tasks including chairside assisting, dental practice management, dental radiology, administrative assisting and infection control.

“The job demand right now for dental assistants is crazy,” said Amber Sosnicki, one of the graduates. “Dental offices are looking to hire. You can make yourself very marketable too, because you know they need assistants. You’re almost guaranteed a job when you get out.”

Joelle Connor, associate professor and director of the Dental Assistant program, pinned each student and congratulated them for their achievement.

“We have been so honored to work with this specific group of six students, and we are so excited to welcome the first graduating class since the reopening of the Dental Assistant program last spring. We are even prouder to now call them colleagues,” Connor said.

The ceremony featured remarks from STCC leaders including President John B. Cook who said he was excited to celebrate the graduates. He noted the vital contributions to healthcare that dental practitioners provide. 

“Every one of these graduates has a job and probably would have had three or four offers if they were really looking,” Cook said. “That to me speaks to the value that STCC provides in this type of a program. It’s very exciting.” 

Original source can be found here