Kaitlin Poppe's Quarter End Entry

I can’t believe the quarter is over, it feels like yesterday it was 100 degrees and I was so nervous to meet my new class mates. Now 4 months later and an 80 degree temperature drop it all seems like a blur. This quarter was such a test of all of us. There were ups and downs, as it true with any program. We always questioned what was happening, if they were doing something different in Seattle, if we were getting worse grades, if we weren’t going to be able to specialize and honestly, why we did the program in the first place.

As I was flying back to Seattle last night I had some time to think and realized why I truthfully am happy where I am, why I love Dental school, and how truly lucky I am to be in RIDE. Yes, we did the math and we are taking 12.5 more hours a week of class (not including any study time), live in the bubbling metropolis of Spokane instead of Seattle, and spend on average 12-14 hours together every day but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can honestly say I love coming to class every day, I love chatting with everyone, eating all of Eric’s wife’s cookies and Liza’s cupcakes, laughing in dental anatomy about Brad’s and my amazing tooth waxing ability, making tooth snowflakes for Dr. McCoy, learning about enamel (aka animal to our teacher) or dial uping (aka developing, Liza), and watching Camille’s puppy fall out of flower pots. It’s all of these fun things that I didn’t appreciate in the short term but are such good memories to look back on now.

So some of us were asking the other day if we would recommend this program to other people and I thought long and hard about it. First I said no, we don’t know, but I am pretty sure our grades are going to be significantly lower strictly because of the crazy schedule we have. That was my main factor. But riding home right now and thinking about it again, I think that I would recommend this program to people. It isn’t easy, and your grades might not be as high as you like, and you feel the hopes of possibly specializing slipping from your grip but you also learn what teamwork is, you learn to adapt to situations that are less than par, and how to make due with what you have. We are so lucky to have the relationship with our teachers and directors where we are on a first name basis with all of them. We can stop by just to hang out and eat candy with them if we want, we are lucky to have the god of Dental anatomy as our teacher, and we are lucky to have each other. I know I wouldn’t have made it through the past 4 months without every person in this program.

As I am heading home I don’t think I have ever been more exhausted both physically and mentally but have never felt more proud of myself and my class. We did it! We made it through a hell of a quarter and we only have 15 more to go J

Merry Christmas everyone!

Kaitlin Poppe