Another Impactful Saturday

So yesterday I took one of my fave trips down recent memory lane…without even leaving my office.

I was alone. N95s and Level 3 masks for the mask weren’t necessary. And even though the indoor temp landed somewhere in the mid-80s, courtesy of a property owner who sees responsibility just like I visualize murder hornets, I was as comfy as I could be.

I hadn’t worn a dress shirt since March 12. But if you’re gonna be credible in the company of college administrators, chemical engineering professors, and researchers, you can still wear shorts on Zoom under tropical conditions with no one being the wiser.

It was my fourth appearance representing Dentistry for Impactful Internships, a program developed by a young guy named David Rayudu. David established Impactful Internships as a one-week program devised to give high school students interested in health service and sciences careers, a head start.

I’ve had the chance to present at Cal State, LA, the University of Southern California Health Sciences Campus and during the Covid-19 pandemic, twice on Zoom. My Cal State, LA debut took place in the very lecture room I first experienced Organic Chemistry. I think I might have sustained a non-chemical flashback and an emotional breakdown, both at the same time. But I NEVER let teenagers see me sweat.

Our last two programs, as well as another staggered forward two weeks, have been virtual…and amazingly successful. Instead of the original one-week boot camp format, the sessions occur on multiple successive Saturdays. During my Saturday presentations at 2 PM and 5 PM, the young students were as bright, unforgettable, and energizing as a Pacific sunset.

The high schoolers learn Myers-Briggs, develop goals and a vision, construct a time management system, and collaborate to present a research project. My own “head start” happened about 20-years into my career. And it’s awesome looking at screen full of smiling, listening young faces; eager to learn and holding the presenter accountable in his own mind…to walk the talk.

I shared my own student story with all warts exposed. We even held a chat column contest to see who would come closest to guessing my Cal State, LA Q-1 GPA (my 2.13 went a long way toward explaining the virtue of remaining humble.) We discussed the power of collaboration and learning from the mistakes all human beings make. We covered the powerlessness of playing the victim (as I did during dental school) and the strength gained in being responsible and cleaning up misunderstandings. Our conversation included the value of having balance and approaching life as an interval; allowing for recovery time and looking and listening for opportunity and the chance to wear a smile.

The students each came prepared with a written down question; many were in line with those considered by my dental team during the last five months. The Q & A sessions were impressive; the students on the screen closely resembled an astute Board of Directors.

David R’s program is growing and even after too many decades to count, I’m growing and learning from the experience. I’m looking forward to another two sessions on August 30.

A final message we shared: When you give, you receive. But I think I was preaching to the choir.