Dr. Alwyn Leiba, current Chair of Miami Dade College\u2019s\nSchool of Health Sciences, was a dental hygienist working full time in his\nfield, but he knew he wanted to branch out in his career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy\nultimate goal was either education or consulting, and the stepping stone to\nboth of those careers was a bachelor\u2019s degree,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leiba chose St. Petersburg College<\/a> for the flexibility of the Dental Hygiene Bachelor of Applied Science<\/a>, but says he found much more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cChoosing SPC for the dental hygiene BAS was one of the best decisions I ever made,\u201d Leiba said. \u201cSPC was the first and only college in Florida that offers the bachelor\u2019s degree 100 percent online, which allowed me to work 40 hours a week and still complete my studies. And the faculty at SPC were amazing \u2013 they really sparked my interest and moved me forward to completion.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n After graduating in 2009, Leiba went on to earn an MBA and PhD in\nHigher Education Leadership. He was recently elected president of the Florida\nDental Hygiene Association, the first African-American (Jamaican) male dental\nhygienist in the 92-year history of the FDHA to be elected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though SPC has been training dental hygienists for their\nassociate degrees since 1963, 2019 marks the 15th<\/sup> year of St.\nPetersburg College\u2019s Bachelor of Applied Science in Dental Hygiene (BASDH)\nprogram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 2016 graduate and current SPC Dental\nHygiene Advisory committee member Jessica Raymond-Albritten said in a recent\narticle she published in RDH magazine that she chose to pursue her bachelor\u2019s\ndegree after finding that she wanted more out of her dental hygiene career. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy reason was personal growth and\nthe hopes that I may one day transcend clinical dental hygiene,\u201d she wrote.\n\u201cPursuing an advanced degree is a significant investment in both your finances\nand your time. It’s important to be emotionally committed, identify your\npersonal goals and choose the right program.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dental Hygiene Program Director Joan\nTonner said the bachelor\u2019s degree offers a lot more flexibility in career\nchoices for dental hygienists, outside of the usual clinical offices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe try to expose our students to many\ncareer options, and when you have a bachelor\u2019s degree, there is a different set\nof job opportunities you can go into, like management or teaching,\u201d Tonner\nsaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to publishing journal articles, SPC BASDH graduates\nhave found other honors, like 2017 graduate Sandra Arill, who claimed the Fall\n2018 Florida Dental Hygiene Association\u2019s Swann D. Knowles Achievement Award,\nwhich recognizes organization members who contributed to the profession through\nservice and dedication. Arill said she sought a bachelor\u2019s because she wanted\nto prepare for a second career after retirement from clinical practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had always thought about working in public health, and knew I\nneeded a bachelor\u2019s degree. I also wanted to advance my education and get more\ninvolved in my professional association,\u201d Arill said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Arill found as she started looking around for a program that many of her colleagues had graduated from SPC, and they highly recommended it. She was also attracted to the fact that she could do the program fully online from her home in Miami. In addition to the credentials she earned with her 2017 graduation, Arill said she had a professional awakening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy SPC experience strengthened the skills I needed to become more\ninvolved in my community,\u201d she said. Dental public health is my passion, and so\nfor my Capstone project I developed Project Rainbow Smiles, an oral health\nprogram for preschoolers. I\u2019ve been able to enact and grow the program, and it\u2019s\nstill growing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy a bachelor\u2019s degree?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n