News & Events
City Tech Dental Hygiene Students Spend Week in the Netherlands After Exchange Program Counterparts Arrive Here
Front from left, Maricela Morales, Tatiana DaCamara, Nadi Goljien and Felicia Glover Back from left, Professor Marilyn Cortell, Paola Rodriguez, Kerry Ann Walsh, Andrea Papp, Masami Suyama and Wilma Lopez.
In early April 2005, two Department of Dental Hygiene students -- Wilma Lopez and Andrea Papp -- set off for an “International Week” educational exchange program visit to the Netherlands, accompanied by department Professor Marilyn Cortell. While abroad, the students took classes and attended lectures and a conference at Inholland University in Amsterdam. The trip was made possible, in part, through assistance provided by the City Tech Foundation’s Beitler Student Resource Fund.
Professor Cortell, who coordinates the international exchange program at City Tech, presented two lectures and also taught a course at Inholland during the trip. “The experiences of attending ‘International Week’ with two of our students, teaching in another country and coordinating the exchange program,” she said, “have had a profound impact on me, both personally and professionally.”
From left, Nadi Goljien and Tatiana DaCamara, our visitors from the Netherlands, set out to see the city.
Two days before their departure, the two City Tech students had their first opportunity to meet Tatiana DaCamara and Nadi Goljien, their exchange program counterparts from Amsterdam. This international exchange is part of the department’s Cross-Cultural Enrichment Program that it hopes will become an annual event.
“It was interesting to see the differences in education between the Netherlands and the United States,” said Goljien. “We learned about the different ways of treating patients, especially in the areas of scaling and ergonomics. We met and made many relationships with great, friendly people, and hope to stay in touch with them.”
DaCamara and Goljien took dental hygiene classes here and participated in related patient treatment clinics through mid-May, in addition to having plenty of time to see the city and enjoy much of what it has to offer. City Tech dental hygiene students Maricela Morales, Paola Rodriguez, Masami Suyama, Kerry Ann Walsh and Felicia Glover served as student mentors and guides to the two visitors from the Netherlands.
“We had a very nice time at your college, added DaCamara. “This was the first time for us to study in a different country. We will never forget how nice the professors were and especially the student mentors. We will never forget this time.”
For City Tech student mentor Kerry Ann Walsh, “The experience of making two new friends and seeing my profession through the eyes of a different culture is one I will never forget.”
