The Dominican Republic Dental & Medical Mission Trip of 2025 has made such an impact on me both in the dental aspect and a personal one. I had first learned of this trip by talking with my Alpha Lambda Delta Advisor Jody Marsh, who was a leading point on making this trip happen. As a pre-dental student that also works in a dental office, she knew I was a prime candidate for this trip and wanted to help me get more experience in a field that I am already in love with. It was from that day that I was ecstatic about the trip, I had been out of the country before but never on a mission trip. As a student that is trying to figure out her own religious feelings, I knew this trip could help me to open my eyes to combining my two possible endeavors: dentistry and religion.
     Weeks had past and meetings came and went, but my excitement for this opportunity never faded. I would talk about it almost every day, so excited to help a whole community through my passions. When the plane landed and we met Nick at the airport, I knew that would not be the last time I would be there. I immediately made friends with the dental team because they could tell just how excited I was for dentistry to be my career path and through them I was able to get firsthand experience helping people with what I loved. While what I was doing was very simple, you could tell that it made a world of difference for those children. Just by simply brushing these students’ teeth you could see their whole world light up, the adults too when I was able to assist Dr. Beth Blaisse, DMD, in the dental RV. However, as I sit here and reflect on this trip and all the impacts it had on me, it was the kids that stole my heart.

 One of the first days I was there I was approached by our team leader Ally with a little girl hiding behind her, she said the girl was too scared to ask but she wanted to play with my hair. Me, being the only redhead on the trip, was a hot commodity for the girls to braid and play with my hair because they had never seen hair that color before. I was so humbled by the conversations we had while they braided and played, many of them sharing their toys, and even candy, with me. Each day after those same girls came up and gave me a hug, their innocence and gratefulness showing every time, even with a language barrier.
     In a final reflection, this trip alone has been the highlight of my life because I know it is my mission to go back. God did not put this ambition in me to not share my gifts and skills with others. I’ve always had a personal goal to do a mission trip once I was established in a career, but now that goal is more than just personal, it is a promise to all those kids and people I met to come back. A little girl gave me a drawing at the end of the trip and said when she handed it to me “Please don’t forget me.” This is my promise to never forget and to always strive to come back. -Katelyn