Ten years later, dental mentorship program holds strong

For the past couple years, 18-year-old Ceyanna Padgett, of North Philadelphia, has participated in a mentorship program—part of the School District of Philadelphia’s Oral Health Academy—that links Penn’s School of Dental Medicine to her high school, the A. Philip Randolph Career and Technical High School, where she is learning to be a dental assistant.

“It has literally been the best experience,” Padgett says. “It’s really helped me realize my commitment to a dental career.”

Partnering with the School District on such a program is a promise to the local community that Penn Dental Medicine Dean Mark Wolff says he is thrilled to continue supporting. “What we do goes far beyond just fixing teeth,” he explains.

A decade ago, when the School District hired Charlene Jennings Fenster to develop and teach a dental assisting program, she immediately reached out to partner with Penn Dental Medicine, her alma mater, where she studied dental hygiene. In collaboration with Beverley Ann Crawford, director of Diversity and Inclusion and an associate professor in clinical dentistry at Penn Dental Medicine, the duo built the mentorship program—meant to afford students professional exposure to a world-class university—which has evolved into a cherished experience for both the high school participants and college students alike.

“It’s a massive way to just pay it forward,” says Lakia Godfrey, who will graduate from Penn Dental Medicine next year. “This whole process has been very invaluable, more so than I expected. These young people in the high school program are eager, they’re eager for more.”

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Supported by a grant from Penn’s Office of the Provost, the program is geared to prepare the dental assisting students to pass the DANB Radiation Health and Safety and Infection Control exams and the industry NOCTI (National Occupational Competency Testing Institute) exams, earning the dental X-ray, Pennsylvania Skills and Workforce Competency certifications, and potential college credits; fulfillment of the research and community service elements of the senior project requisite for graduation; and college guidance including SAT preparation and college applications.

As part of the initiative, high school students visit Penn’s campus a few times a year, where they interact in various capacities with the students in Penn Dental Medicine’s Community Oral Health Honors Program and with renowned faculty members, including Mel Mupparapu, director of the Oral and Maxillofacial Radiology Fellowship and a professor of oral medicine. The high schoolers take a radiology course developed by Mupparapu and Fenster and participate in trainings and dental clinics at Penn that enable them to work with state-of-the-art equipment and real-life patients. (Luckily, for those involved in the mentorship program this year, all planned in-person gatherings were completed before closures due to COVID-19.) 

“I met a lot of patients from all over the world,” says Padgett. “Some even needed translators and that was pretty cool. You get exposure to the global community and a cultural experience.”

The high school students form close bonds with the dental students, who not only walk them through clinic days, but also help with schoolwork and test preparation.

“Our students who come to Penn Dental Medicine are all super achievers,” says Wolff. “Who better to talk about how to study for the SATs and ACTs, how to write an essay, or how to apply for college?”

Padgett worked most often with Terigray Nnanabu, who is set to graduate from Penn Dental Medicine in 2021. “Having her by my side has been so helpful,” Padgett says. Aside from Godfrey and Nnanabu, the two additional Penn Dental Medicine students involved with the program this year are Marcus Dassah and Teresa Tawadros.

Mentorship has always been a big part of Nnanabu’s life—“a passion”—she says. One reason it means so much to her, she explains, is because “representation matters.”

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“Being an African American woman myself, and being in the health field, I know it’s important for me to reach back and shine a light to young African American women who are interested in the field; showing them it’s possible,” Nnanabu says. “That has always been important to me.”

Mentorship in dentistry—as well as in health and science fields in general—for traditionally underrepresented populations is an important key to closing gaps, notes Crawford. Numerous other factors can also contribute to making the journey for such students “sometimes quite difficult and longer than most of the students who apply to professional schools,” she says.

For the Penn Dental Medicine students involved with the program, explains Crawford, “it’s a chance for many of them to go back and help someone who is coming through similar circumstances that they might have had.” Much more than solely an honors program, Crawford adds, “It helps with their growth, development, and leadership, too.”

Godfrey explains how inspiring it has been to see many of the high school students’ minds shift throughout the duration of the program. “They’ve been able to broaden their horizons even more,” she says. “Rather than thinking about it as just another part of their classes, they have really taken it to heart, and see the potential they have, that the sky is the limit. … They have that lifeline in us to look at us and say, ‘Hey, you are the future me. I can do it.’”

The high schoolers who participate in the mentorship program, indeed, have a leg up when it comes to progressing into higher education, if they so choose, says Fenster. She notes more than 85 percent of her dental assisting students have been accepted to college.

“The amount of growth personally, professionally, and educationally the students experience while participating in the program is phenomenal,” says Fenster.

Padgett in particular, who, with great determination, finished her senior year research assignment months ahead of schedule, already has her plans post high school set: After joining the National Guard in the summer, she’ll attend Pennsylvania College of Technology to pursue a bachelor’s in dental hygiene. She hopes to work part time as a dental assistant while in college, maintaining her radiology and clinical skills.

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Asked if she’s ready for college, Padgett responds, without hesitation: “Yes, definitely.”

“Students in this program, before graduating from high school, believe and know they can succeed, they know how to hurdle challenges and how to utilize their resources,” says Fenster. “And they are aware of the networks they have developed at Penn and know they can always access them.”

Those networks, in fact, reach far beyond high schoolers’ completion of the mentorship program, as well as graduation, says Godfrey. Even amidst a worldwide pandemic, she says, of course, she is only a phone call away for any of the program’s students.

“It really is a family here at large, and I am so proud of it,” Godfrey says.