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NOTE: Program Cancelled
Deadline: Mar. 1, 2020
Course Dates: Aug. 12 – Dec. 7, 2020
Travel Dates: Oct. 16- 25, 2020
Dental Hygiene Service Learning Experience in Jamaica
This is a service learning experience through an organization called Great Shape!, Inc., that was established in 1988. One of Great Shape’s programs is called “1000 Smiles project.” While the primary purpose is to help those in need, there is plenty of cross cultural interaction, and learning.
During the week-long experience (approximately 32 hours), the group will divide into 3 or 4 separate teams consisting of dentists, assistants, hygienists, and other helpers. Each team is assigned to a different location. Portable dental equipment will be set up for use in temporary clinic locations ranging from country schools to rural health and hotel clinics, where dental hygiene services and care will be provided. The volunteers will also distribute toothbrushes and toothpaste, while providing patient education in oral health in the local schools and throughout the island community. This International experience will count as practicum hours for the course DEH 2702C.
Think you can’t afford to study abroad? Scholarships and other ways to fund your study abroad program are available. Explore scholarship options now.
Available courses – Students must enroll in the course listed below during the fall 2020 semester in order to be able to participate.
Note: Students must confirm with an academic advisor that they meet all college enrollment requirements AND course prerequisites to be eligible to enroll in the course listed. Students receiving financial aid must confirm with a financial aid advisor whether their study abroad course will be covered by financial aid.
Professor: Amy Krueger
DEH 2702C Community Dental Health Practicum 1 credit
Lead faculty contacts
After you submit the application online, we will review your application and e-mail you with details of scheduling your interview with the Jamaica Dental trip lead faculty, Amy Krueger, 727-341-3691.
Other SPC Study Abroad trips
Learn more about other Study Abroad countries where SPC students have made their mark.
Student Travel Blog – For a taste of what it’s like to study abroad in Jamaica, or to follow our students as they travel, read posts from the Jamaica blog below.
Participating in SPC’s 2017 Jamaica Dental study abroad program was the most amazing, rewarding, and life-changing experiences I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. Jamaica is such an amazing country with the most loving, compassionate, thankful, and happy people in the world. Just to see the way they live was so … Continue reading 2017 Jamaica Dental study abroad program = LIFE-CHANGING!
The opportunity to participate in the St. Peterburg College Jamaica Dental Hygiene 2017 Study Abroad program was a great experience. As a dental hygiene student at St. Peterburg College I do not think I could have asked for a better place to go and better patients to see. Jamaicans are extremely thankful for the work … Continue reading My Review of SPC’s Jamaica Dental Hygiene 2017 Study Abroad Program
“Sometimes I lay under the moon and thank God I’m breathing. Then I pray, don’t take me soon ‘cause I am here for a reason…” Those lyrics by reggae artist Matisyahu keep playing in my head again and again. The people of Jamaica have touched me in a way that is hard to put into … Continue reading I am forever changed: Jamaica Dental Hygiene Program
Wah Gwan! This study abroad opportunity to Jamaica was everything I could ever imagine plus more. This experience has hands-down been one of the best experiences of my life. Eight of my fellow dental hygiene classmates, myself, and our professor, Mrs. Krueger, have been working hard for the past nine months by gathering supplies, fundraising, … Continue reading Jamaica 2016! #OneLove
My heart is so full of love, happiness, gratitude, and emotion. I knew the day I was accepted to go to Jamaica study abroad that the trip would be life changing, but I never expected it to be as impactful as it was. On this trip, I … Continue reading Jamaica Study Abroad: Dental Hygiene
This was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Jamaica is a beautiful country and the people of Jamaica are amazing. They are welcoming, kind and happy. I feel like I gained much more than I have given. On my second day out in the field I had a fifty-year old man that had … Continue reading Better as a Clinician and as a Person – Natalie Coffman
My dental hygiene journey started about three years ago in Kansas City. At that time, I was a student at Kansas State University, planning on attending UMKC for Dental Hygiene upon graduation. That year, my sister decided to move to Chicago for college, and it prompted me to think, “If she’s doing it [moving away … Continue reading Jamaica Study Abroad: The Best Days of My Life
“Wah gwaan”, or “What’s up”, in the Jamaican Patwah language. Where do I even begin to describe how incredible this experience was? Let’s start from the beginning with the not so fun part of the story! Our team was originally scheduled to depart on October 1, 2016, but mother nature had something else in store … Continue reading Life-Changing Experience-1000 Smiles Project, Ochos Rios, Jamaica
Hurricane Matthew was forecasted to hit the island of Jamaica early Monday morning as a category 4 hurricane. Nine of us students from the SPC Dental Hygiene program, our instructor Mrs. Krueger, and her husband Dr. Gordon had been preparing since January for a volunteer trip to this small Caribbean island. We were volunteering for … Continue reading Never Forget the 1,000 Smiles of Jamaica
SPC’s partner for the Jamaica Dental Hygiene Study Abroad program, Great Shape! Inc.’s 1000 Smiles Project, paid a visit to SPC in mid-July. The 1000 Smiles Project director and executive team came to St Petersburg to buy supplies for the Jamaica experience and also to see America. Several of them have never been out of … Continue reading 1000 Smiles Project Visits SPC “Jamerican” Family