'Santa Maria Times' features incoming College of Dental Medicine student Lindsey Cunningham and why UNE was the choice for her
A March 19, 2015 article in the Santa Maria Times featured Lindsey Cunningham, who will begin her study at the College of Dental Medicine in the fall.
After graduating from a dental assisting program from Hancock College in Santa Maria, California, Cunningham worked in several area dentists’ offices. It was there, when she saw many migrant farmworkers seeking dental services, that she decided to go back to school to become a dentist.
"We had a lot of migrant workers who would come in with toothaches," she explained. "That’s when I made the decision to go back to school."
Cunningham returned to Hancock for her associate’s degree and then went on to the University of California Davis.
According to the article, although she was accepted into the "renowned University of Pacific dental program in San Francisco, she has chosen to attend the University of New England’s College of Dental Medicine in Portland, Maine."
Cunningham explained that after visiting the college, she fell in love with the UNE. "I saw myself being able to make a big impact on the world by earning my degree there," she noted.
The article also discussed why UNE’s College of Dental Medicine, Maine’s only dental school, is geographically poised to offer prime job opportunities to its graduates due to the shortage of dentists in very county of the state and the large percentage of practicing dentists in Maine who are reaching retirement age.