Bryna was a successful runner from the start. In the fourth grade, she qualified to run the 400 meter in the Junior Olympics, a memory she will always cherish. “My favorite memory of track is going to the Junior Olympics for the 400 meter in the 4th grade!” explains Bryna. “I remember how nervous I was standing at the start line, but the second I started running the nerves left and I ran my heart out.”
Running is a great stress reliever that all dental students can do. Although Bryna is not on a track team anymore, she continues to run in her spare time. “I love going to the rec and running on their indoor track when dental school allows,” she says. For anyone out there that may want to start running, Bryna has this advice for you: “It is super easy to start this hobby because it is an independent sport. Someone interested in running/track can run for free outside. This hobby is a great way to stay active and get some endorphins flowing.” With the weather as beautiful as it is, now is a great time to get outside and start running!
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With the start of a new school year, the Class of 2023 has joined us here at UABSOD. This week we introduce the newly elected officers for this class. Welcome to the Class of 2023 and congrats to the elected officers! 
To start of this year’s Wellness Wednesday Posts we are going to give you a few nutrient filled and delicious smoothie recipes!
It’s the start of a new year for the dental students at UAB which means it’s time for a new round of student featurettes on Member Monday. This week, we caught up with Danielle Ho, a D3 who currently serves as our Vice President elect. Danielle has been involved with ASDA since she was a pre-dent at Virginia Tech and it is clear from her work at UAB that she has #ASDAFever.
Danielle has very fond memories of her time with ASDA at Virginia Tech. “I remember our club was always talking about ASDA and how amazing it was,” explains Danielle. “At the time I had no idea what it was, but I just knew I wanted to learn more about it and get involved. The very first conference I went to was the National Leadership Conference (NLC) in Chicago during my sophomore year, and after that, I caught ASDA Fever and went to multiple district conferences and NLC for a second time during my senior year!” It’s safe to say that national ASDA conferences are one of the organization’s greatest features. Each conference is a great chance to get out of school mode and get into the real world for a few days. Not to mention the invaluable opportunities to network with other students and dentists who share a passion for organized dentistry. Danielle was appointed VP Elect back in January. So far she has enjoyed being able to oversee our chapter as a whole rather than simply organizing one event as she did with her past position. “I love being involved with multiple committees and knowing everything our chapter is doing,” says Danielle. “I especially love that I’m able to oversee the New Member Committee that I was once a part of and am so passionate about! I have a great exec team and I am so thankful to be working with all of them.” When asked about her favorite memory of ASDA, Danielle says it was her first NLC. “That was when I fell in love with ASDA, the people, and everything that ASDA stands for and does for its students and profession,” says Danielle. “It was absolutely surreal coming from a pre-dental club of 100 students and going to a conference surrounded by a thousand dental students and being 1 of 4 pre-dental students there. I felt like I was a part of a great big family, where everyone is supporting one another to better our profession and each other. I still keep in touch with many of the friends I made at my first NLC!” Of course, being on the executive board of a club is a huge time commitment and with the stresses of clinic right around the corner, it can be difficult to keep up with club responsibilities. However, Danielle says, “It’s easy to do things that you love and are passionate about. I have always been passionate about new members and pre-dentals so it’s fun for me to have something to work on outside of studying. It’s also refreshing to be a part of something meaningful, especially when you lose sight of your purpose while burying your head in the books. ASDA reminds me that there’s so much more to dental school than studying, and that there are so many people walking the same journey together.” For anyone thinking about applying for ASDA exec one day, take some advice from Danielle who is doing an awesome job in her position! “I believe that if passion drives your actions, you will be successful in whatever you pursue,” says Danielle. “If there’s anything that you love, I would definitely encourage you to pursue it – whether that’s service, wellness, or pre-dentals/new members. ASDA has a lot of avenues for you to be a part of things that you are passionate about – and if we don’t have an avenue for your passion already, you have the ability to create that! If you want to be a part of something bigger than our little community at UAB, I would definitely encourage you to be on exec and apply for positions on the national and district level as well!” Have you got #ASDAFever?  Spring is in the air which means it is almost the end of the road for our D4 students. Because of this, we wanted to feature them in our Member Monday spotlight while we still can! Our student this week is Tim Davis, a D4 who served as our vice president last year. Tim has been invovled as an officer of ASDA since his first year of dental school and has worked hard to make our chapter better each year of his involvement. When asked how Tim first became invovled with ASDA he said “I was looking for a way to get involved in a group at the school, and ASDA seemed to be the most accessible. I applied for a position in my D1 year. I started as a fall social chair for the 2016 calendar year. As fall social chair, I was responsible for Back to School Trivia Night, and then eventually Casino Night for a Cause.” In fact, Tim was the founder of the very first Casino Night! Now considered as UAB’s fall formal, Casino Night is an event all students look forward to right before winter break and has been very successful in just the few years it has taken place. Tim says his favorite memory of ASDA was putting this event together. “By far my favorite experience with ASDA has been Casino Night for A Cause,” says Tim. “I created the event in 2016 and have been heavily involved ever since. I kind of consider it to be my baby. I have put so much time and effort into that event over the years. I learned a lot from it and, though I hope to see it continue to grow, I think we have done a great job in making it an established annual event in a very short amount of time. I really hope to see it continue to be successful for years to come after I graduate.” After his year working as social chair he then stepped it up a notch and became vice president. “I enjoyed being in a leadership position,” says Tim. “It made me feel like I had a say in how things were done. In my first year as an ASDA officer, I learned a lot from those before me. But I also saw opportunities for growth. Being Vice President gave me the ability to actually make changes in our chapter, as well as on a national level.” Like any other leadership position, being on the executive board of ASDA is extremely time consuming. However, Tim says it is doable if you simply make it a priority. “I definitely kept very busy between ASDA and school responsibilities,” explains Tim. “However, I think I work well under pressure and can prioritize and be more efficient. I think we all have more time in our schedule than we realize, and if you have something you really care about, you can make it happen. It definitely was not always easy, but we all need an outlet and for me, even though It was a school group, it kind of served that purpose.” The application for ASDA officer positions goes out every year and the next vice president could be you! We asked Tim if he had any advice for those who are currently seeking out leadership positions. He responded with “I think ASDA is the best student organization at UAB and on the national level, so I think everyone should seek a position in ASDA. The best advice I would give to someone wanting to be a leader is to never lose sight of what’s important. To me, our chapter of ASDA was always my priority. I very much took the “think globally act locally” approach. I think the national aspect is important, but I think as leaders, we are responsible first for our own chapter. Since every student at UAB is a member of ASDA, we have to remember to make sure our efforts are in support of all of the students, and not just solely beneficial.” We wish Tim luck as he finishes his requirements and encourage anyone thinking about becoming an ASDA officer to fill out an application next year when it’s time to apply!
Happy Monday fellow dental students! It has been a while since our last Member Monday and that is why this week we are really excited to feature D1 Rony Young, a very talented singer and performer. Originally from Mobile, Alabama, Rony attended the University of Alabama for college where he earned an undergraduate degree in Biology. We had the pleasure of hearing him perform at this year’s variety show and are very excited to have such a talented person at our school!
Rony says he first became interested in music when he was just a kid. “My mom was the first person that exposed me to singing,” explains Rony. “I remember singing Christmas songs that she taught me and had recorded me singing.” Once in high school, Rony really began to cultivate his voice and started performing as much as he could. “I used to perform all the time when I was in high school,” says Rony, “mostly choirs but also solo performances. I was involved in show choir at my school and church, all-state choir every year, as well as high school talent shows.” Rony also participated in a lot of musical theater. “I grew up being in plays so I was usually in at least one musical per year from the time I can remember up until moving away for college.” Could UAB SOD have a Broadway star on its hands?? Unfortunately, Rony did not have any opportunities to sing in college and was very excited to get the chance to hit the stage again in the UAB Variety show. He told us, “I had not performed solo since high school until the 2019 Variety Show at UAB SOD. It was a really cool experience getting my feet wet again as far as singing on stage goes.” Most singers like to stick with a certain genre of music but Rony says he likes them all! “I would say I like basically all genres of music or at least a few from each genre that is within my range. My favorites, however, would be country and old soul music, such as Ray Charles, Otis Redding, etc.” While we may not all have the natural talent that Rony has, he assured us that anyone who wants to can give signing a try. “I was grateful to have such amazing music teachers, mainly my mom, church choir director, and high school choir director,” says Rony. “I have spent a tremendous amount of time singing throughout my life in order for me to get better and learn. My advice would be to practice a lot, learn some good breathing techniques, and learn to read music. I never learned to read music and it often held me back. Practice makes perfect!” Be sure to check out Rony at next year’s Variety Show! Maybe he will inspire a few more singers to rise to the occasion.
This is a self-assessment checklist to evaluate how good we are at maintaining a proper environment. DO I…..?
Comment below other ways you reduce your footprint!  Physical wellness is one of the pillars of ASDA’s Wellness initiative. As a dental student with a busy schedule, it can be difficult to always find the time to make it to the gym and eat the proper foods. However, having a healthy lifestyle is so important not only for your own well-being, but for your performance in school as well. Here are 5 tips that everyone can use to make physical wellness more achievable!
Hopefully these tips make it easier for you as a busy dental student to practice healthy habits. And remember, improving your physical wellness can affect the other aspects of your life as well. Taking care of your body can work to improve your general mood and even your performance in school!
The question that is on all of our minds when it comes to the D4s is of course, what are your plans for after graduation? For Lisa this is easy! She will be staying here at UAB for a periodontics residency. This is no easy feat as residency programs are getting tougher and tougher to be accepted to so we applaud Lisa on this accomplishment. Lisa first became exposed to perio during her undergraduate research studies on the mechanisms of bone resorption. “I didn't have a lot of exposure to dentistry prior to dental school,” says Lisa, “so my initial interests purely came from shadowing different dentists around town. I loved the surgeries and the idea that we can not only treat disease but also regrow tissues. Of course it also helped that we have an amazing perio department at UAB!” With so many specialty options, it can be difficult to find the one that fits you the most. We asked Lisa if she had any suggestions for classes below on how to figure out their interests and how to pursue a residency. Lisa’s advice is to “go be a fly on the wall in different clinics at school whenever you have time. I also shadowed other specialties to narrow down my options. Having rotations at all of the clinics during D3 year was very beneficial. Dentistry is a very diverse profession, which is why I think it's really important to be certain about specializing. The idea of mastering a skill is very appealing, but pursuing one specialty basically means giving up all the others. So take the time to list out the pros and the cons. Talk to different faculty and current residents to gain a good sense of the reality of perio and not just the positives.”
 Of course, with every residency comes the dreaded application process. Juggling schoolwork and preparation for licensure and boards while filling out applications does not seem like an easy task. “The online applications were so unnecessarily confusing,” says Lisa. “Not all programs participated in MATCH and not all programs took the ADEA PASS ‘common application.’ I tried to make my life easier by applying to only MATCH programs, but one program wanted their own separate application, not PASS, and another program wanted another application in addition to PASS. Thank goodness I had another classmate applying with me. We got through it together. Once the interviews started, I actually started enjoying the process! I visited old friends in cities I had interviews in and also met a lot of future colleagues along the way. One of the interviewees I met ended up being my future co-resident!”
Lisa was very invovled with ASDA during her years at UAB so we wanted to find out about some of her favorite memories she would take with her to residency. According to Lisa, “There are so many! Crawfish boil is probably one of my favorite ASDA social events. I usually end up eating the delicious crawfish for hours. Aside from all of our chapter's events, the district and national conferences are always a blast. Being around people who truly appreciate the dental profession really gave me the motivation to get through the harder parts of dental school. The first and most memorable conference I attended was District 5's conference in New Orleans my D2 year. That was the first time I met dental professionals outside of Alabama. It's so easy to connect with people when you already have a lot in common! The last national event I attended was the ADA/ASDA Lobby Day in D.C. with veteran dentists and leaders of Alabama. It was quite an eye opening experience.” Alabama ASDA has a lot to offer its students so be sure to check out all the great events going on! Finally, we asked Lisa if she thought that being a part of ASDA will help her in the future. “Most definitely,” she says. “I am a pretty social /love making new friends kind of person, but my ultimate goal is to have my own private practice one day. That thought always seemed kind of lonely, but through my involvements in ASDA and organized dentistry, I know now that dentistry is not a solitary profession. There is a large network of dentists from all over the country who attend national/state/local events to help each other out. The first time I attended a practice management course was at an ASDA event. Someone once told me that once we graduate, the actual practice of dentistry is the easiest part. It is everything else that is difficult. By continuing to stay involved with the ADA or another dentistry organization, I know I will save myself from making a lot of mistakes in the future because I will have mentors who can help guide me in the right direction.” Thanks for all the great advice Lisa! It is clear that ASDA and organized dentistry has a lot to offer us both while we are still in dental school and beyond graduation. Dental school can challenge us to our breaking point at times but we have to remember that we are not alone in our endeavor to pursue this profession. As Lisa told us, “Dental school has been a lot of fun BUT… only 88 days until graduation!” Keep trudging along everyone!  By Gabi Larrea and Brett Silvers One of the pillars of ASDA’s Wellness initiative is Emotional Wellness. As dental students it’s very easy to get caught up in our day-to-day routines, running around from classes or patients to get through our busy weeks, but we cannot forget the importance of Emotional Wellness. It is just as important to take care of our mental health as it is to take care of our physical health. Otherwise, we cannot be fully present to those around us. For this Wellness Wednesday post we decided to come up with 5 ways to start off your morning in a healthy mindset!
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