Yoo Awarded Scholarship from Dental Hygiene Oral Health Institute
Jaehee Yoo, dental hygiene candidate 2015, recently received the American Dental Hygiene Association (ADHA) Institute for Oral Health Scholarship for Academic Excellence. The scholarship, which is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson, recognizes two students nationally for academic performance.
“I am deeply honored and humbled to have been selected for this scholarship,” said Yoo. “I want to thank the ADHA Institute for Oral Health, the scholarship selection committee, and the students, faculty, and staff at the UNC School of Dentistry for their contributions and incredible support for my future career in dentistry. They constantly motivate and inspire me!”
As a recipient, Yoo received $1,000 towards her educational expenses during the 2014-15 academic year. Criteria for the award included pursuing a bachelor’s degree in dental hygiene and earning a grade point average above 3.5. Applicants also included two recommendation letters from professors in their dental hygiene program. Yoo’s letters came from Program Director Vickie Overman and Clinical Associate Professor Shannon Mitchell.
“Jaehee is an amazing student who excels not only in the classroom but in many community and voluntary endeavors. Her leadership skills are outstanding and a group she started on campus made the front page of the Daily Tar Heel, the campus newspaper,” explained Mitchell. “LENS is a project she started to help the less fortunate receive professional quality photographs at no cost. This is an outstanding program that has now developed LENS chapters on other college campuses, such as the University of South Carolina. Jaehee also volunteers at the University of North Carolina Hospital: in the transplant clinic, the dental clinic and the pediatric play room. Further activities include the ReCYCLEry program and teaching piano to low-income families.
“Through all of these activities her strongest leadership is with her classmates in the dental hygiene program where she serves as the class vice president, works on dental related community projects such as the school’s Dental SHAC and NC MOM clinics. Jaehee accomplishes all of these things while maintaining a 3.5 grade point average in a rigorous dental hygiene curriculum,” Mitchell said.
Earlier this year, Yoo received the Ronald W. Hyatt Rotary Public Service Award. The honor provided $1,500 towards a pediatric program she designed to offer dental health services to refugee and immigrant families in a local Durham, N.C. community.
The ADHA Institute for Oral Health strives to support the charitable educational, research and scientific endeavors of the ADHA.
