Chicago-based Hu-Friedy announced the winners of the “Hu-Friedy Nevi Scholarship” program in January, handing out scholarship awards of $10,000 each to four dental hygienists. The scholarships are intended to help the hygienists further their education.
Hu-Friedy awarded the scholarships to Ilya Babiy of Troutdale, Ore.; Diane Daubert of Mercer Island, Wash.; Andrea Jordan of St. Paul, Minn.; and Jana Pasquarella of Schenectady, N.Y. The dental instruments and products manufacturer convened a review panel to determine the scholarship finalists.
The scholarship funds were generated through Hu-Friedy’s “Host Nevi Tour 2011.” Nevi, a mascot that resembles Hu-Friedy’s Nevi 4 posterior sickle scaler, raised $1,000 in scholarship funds for each state visited. The 2011 tour of the mascot accomplished the goal of visiting all 50 states. The company announced the four scholarship winners at the Yankee Dental Congress conference in Boston.
Babiy applied for the scholarship to expedite the amount of time spent earning his master’s degree at Portland State Univeristy. Already a part-time instructor at the Oregon Health & Science University, where he instructs dental and dental hygiene students during their rotations, he hopes to devote his career to teaching dental hygiene students.
Ilya Babiy
“Growing up, I helped take care of my younger brother Daniel’s teeth. He has Down syndrome, so I helped him with flossing and brushing in the evening, and let him do the brushing in the morning.
“When I was in dental hygiene school, I knew then that I would love to come back and teach. Now I’ve started working on my master’s.”
He said the Hu-Friedy scholarship would help him speed up the process. In addition to being a part-time instructor, he also works part-time in two private practices.
Daubert is pursuing a doctorate with her scholarship, continuing her research on the prevalence of peri-implantitis. She also wishes to teach dental hygienists about the importance of implant maintenance during routine prophy care.
“It is often a complaint of practicing dentists and hygienists that while research may be trying to answer an interesting question, it has little relevance to clinical practice,” Daubert said. “On the other hand, the PhD in oral biology requires a significant amount of basic science research done in a laboratory, and we know that basic science discoveries are what lead to changes in clinical practice.”
She is also a strong advocate of mentoring in dental hygiene, and believes the doctorate will continue to
Andrea Jordan
Jordan’s residence in Minnesota allows her to pursue a dream of being an advanced dental therapist (ADT) in the state. She is currently enrolled in the Oral Health Care Practitioner program at Metropolitan State in St. Paul. A veteran dental hygienist since 1997, Jordan is using the scholarship to explore the opportunities available with her career change.
Pasquarella has devoted 17 years of her career to working in an inner city school-based dental outeach program. While enrolled to earn a bachelor’s degree at the State University of New York at Canton, she became aware of a 240-hour internship that would enable her to better cope with barriers preventing dental care among the underserved population in her area.
“The scholarship money allowed me to do my 240-hour internship in an inner city health-care facility,” she
Pasquarella will graduate in 2012 and continues her work as she also celebrated her 18th year in the school-based program. She said, “At this point, I will continue to work in the school program in Schenectady. The school-based program is run through a nonprofit health-care facility that caters to the uninsured and underserved population.”
Regarding the scholarship announcement, Ken Serota, president of Hu-Friedy said, “We are pleased to announce these four winners, and appreciate the positive response from the dental community in support of the Hu-Friedy Nevi Scholarship program. Advancing dental performance through education is one of our main objectives at Hu-Friedy, which is why we created this scholarship program. The four winners who were chosen are shining examples of excellence, dedication, and passion, and we are excited to see their future contributions benefit the dental community.”
Nevi 4 is currently traveling in Canada for the “Host Nevi Tour 2012,” and Canadian dental hygienists will have the same opportunity to apply for scholarships.
