Some college students follow their career path from start to finish. Some change multiple times before discovering their calling, and others have experiences that take them from that calling and eventually bring them back.
Pacific University affirmed the ambition of Alex Hays ‘22 to become a dentist by providing her opportunities to work with everything but teeth.
A chemistry major with minors in biology and outdoor leadership, Hays participated in a national summer nuclear research program. She taught rock climbing and climbed mountains with Outdoor Pursuits. She started a club, revitalized another, and studied abroad for a year.
All of those experiences led Hays back to a career in dentistry and a specific desire to practice in a small community like her hometown of Gunnison, Colorado.
“I was able to try out a lot of different things and discovered that I didn’t like them as much as dentistry,” said Hays, now a graduate student at the University of Colorado’s School of Dental Medicine. “In a roundabout way, Pacific helped affirm that by having all of these other opportunities.”
The opportunities abounded. In 2020, Hays studied abroad in Perth, Australia. The region’s remote location, and Australia’s rigid COVID-19 protocols, allowed Hays to enjoy most of her year away while much of the rest of world shut down. In 2021, Hays was selected to participate in the American Nuclear and Radiochemistry Summer School, sponsored by the American Chemical Society and the U.S. Department of Energy. She was named the program’s Outstanding Student.
By the time she graduated as Pacific’s 2022 valedictorian, her career path was clear. “Pacific let me look at some other things, she said. “At the end of it, I was convinced that I wanted to do dentistry.”
Pacific’s 2022 undergraduate valedictorian, Hays said that the rigor that Pacific’s faculty provide in their classes positioned her to excel in dental school. When she sat for the Dental Admission Test, Hays didn’t buy a study course. She reviewed her notes from her Pacific classes.
“My classes had very excellent teaching, and at the same time very high standards,” Hays said. “Faculty saying, ‘You’re able to do it. We’re not going to make it easier because that’s a disservice to you.’ That was probably one of the biggest benefits. Obviously, dental school is challenging, but I know it could have been a lot more challenging if I didn’t have such a solid base coming in.”
In between the academic work, Hays found time to enjoy the outdoors and share that joy with others. Through Outdoor Pursuits, Hays guided rock-climbing, cross-country skiing, mountaineering and hiking trips, and was a teaching assistant for the rock-climbing course.
Where science classes provided the solid academic foundation, Hays’ work with outdoor leadership and Outdoor Pursuits provided her the foundation for navigating the human side of dentistry.
“Leading people to get over their fears on rock-climbing trips is sometimes remarkably similar to some tactics I use with a nervous patient,” Hays said. “I think there are more similarities than I would have imagined between a climbing harness and a dental chair.”
