{"id":87561,"date":"2024-10-19T01:36:22","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T01:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/?post_type=stories&p=87561"},"modified":"2026-08-29T01:36:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T01:36:42","slug":"alumnus-finds-success-as-a-dental-hygienist","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/news\/alumnus-finds-success-as-a-dental-hygienist\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus Finds Success as a Dental Hygienist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 15 years after leaving his increasingly dangerous hometown in Coalcom\u00e1n, Michoac\u00e1n, Mexico, Carlos Valdovinos is living his best life in Kirkland, Washington.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old, who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from EWU in 2022, has already established an ideal work-life balance as a dental hygienist working for Sammamish Family Dental.<\/p>\n

\"Carlos
Valdovinos loves exploring the outdoors in western Washington.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI feel like I have a really good life at work,\u201d he says. \u201cI also get to travel and spend time outdoors, which is what I like. And all that, I think, is thanks to the university and everyone that supported me.\u201d<\/p>\n

With fluency in both English and Spanish, this Eastern alumnus easily converses with Spanish-speaking clients and can interpret for the dentist when needed. His compassionate approach to care is a hit with clients of all ages, who request him as their hygienist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like a lot of people want to be with me because I always focus on having the patient comfortable in the chair,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I have a really good life at work,\u201d he says. \u201cI also get to travel and spend time outdoors, which is what I like. And all that, I think, is thanks to the university and everyone that supported me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Valdovinos
Valdovinos was welcomed with treats when he started his job.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With fluency in both English and Spanish, this Eastern alumnus easily converses with Spanish-speaking clients and can interpret for the dentist when needed. His compassionate approach to care is a hit with clients of all ages, who request him as their hygienist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like a lot of people want to be with me because I always focus on having the patient comfortable in the chair,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I saw what a dental hygienist does, and how big of an impact I could bring to a diverse patient population, I just fell in love with hygiene,\u201d he said during an Eastern<\/em> magazine<\/a><\/strong> interview back in 2022.<\/p>\n

Valdovinos toured EWU and learned about the Department of Dental Hygiene. He liked the environment, diversity and overall positivity of the university \u2014 and Eastern\u2019s admissions team connected him with door-opening scholarship support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have never been able to get my education if it had not been for the donors who helped me financially,\u201d a grateful Valdovinos<\/a> <\/strong>said at the time.<\/p>\n

Eastern proved to be the perfect choice for the first-generation student, who had previously persevered through tough times.<\/p>\n

Valdovinos immigrated to the United States at age 11, after his parents sent him to live with his older sister in Yakima. They made this heart-rending decision because cartel-instigated corruption, shakedowns, kidnappings and murders were becoming disturbingly common in his beautiful hometown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was just violence all around us,\u201d says Valdovinos, who recalls routinely seeing trucks loaded with men and guns coming down the road. His community, meanwhile, started experiencing multiple funerals for reasons people were afraid to talk about.<\/p>\n

Throughout his four years at Eastern, news from home relayed the deaths and disappearances of friends and family members. He says he often felt like returning to Mexico to help.<\/p>\n

Valdovinos credits Professor Lisa Bilich, and other dental hygiene faculty and staff, with helping him overcome such hardships to stay on track for graduation. He not only became the first in his family to earn a degree, but also inspired his younger sister to pursue her own path to college.<\/p>\n

During an interview before Valdovinos\u2019 graduation, Bilich said she was impressed with him from the beginning. As an English as a second language student, she said, he worked twice as hard as other students to master test-taking, while providing unwavering support for patients at the EWU clinic.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe treats them with kindness and respect \u2014 every patient he has,\u201d Bilich said, noting that he exemplified the importance of EWU\u2019s holistic admissions.<\/p>\n

While attending EWU, Valdovinos became friends with another dental hygiene student, Enrique Ter\u00e1n \u201922. After graduating, the newly minted alumni moved to the Seattle-area to share housing expenses and get a jump-start on their careers. Ter\u00e1n is experiencing his own success doing hygiene and restorative work for a general dentistry clinic in Kirkland.<\/p>\n

As a thriving professional, Valdovinos has earned certifications in laser treatment and saliva testing while temping on some of his days off at other clinics, where he practices restorative work. Eastern\u2019s promise of opportunity was life-changing for him.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait
Valdovinos was a favorite of clients at EWU’s clinic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super happy that I chose dental hygiene at Eastern as a career path and university, because it was the perfect set to my career,\u201d he says. \u201cIt allowed me to explore the career I wanted and be prepared for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Join us in building a future for hardworking students at Eastern.<\/em><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly 15 years after leaving his increasingly dangerous hometown in Coalcom\u00e1n, Michoac\u00e1n, Mexico, Carlos Valdovinos is living his best life in Kirkland, Washington. The 24-year-old, who earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from EWU in 2022, has already established an ideal work-life balance as a dental hygienist working for Sammamish Family Dental. \u201cI feel like I have…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":87565,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-87561","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","stories_categories-alumni","stories_categories-applied-learning","stories_categories-build-our-future-campaign","stories_tags-alumni","stories_tags-build-our-future","stories_tags-campaign","stories_tags-chsph","stories_tags-giving-stories"],"acf":{"display_byline":true,"byline_override":"","subheading":"","featured_image_format":"cover","display_featured_image":true,"display_date_published":true,"featured_video":"","Links":false,"Resources":false,"page_override_title":"","page_hide_sidebar":false,"page_enable_page_nav":false,"page_persona_bar_default_tab":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/87561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/87561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87566,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/87561\/revisions\/87566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ewu.edu\/buildourfuture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}