This year, the Alpha Chapter’s spring semester at the University of Maryland was even more eventful than its fall. With new officers, new ideas and a renewed enthusiasm for community outreach, our chapter was busier than ever. The semester was kicked off with our annual Holiday Party in January at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Tom Daley, alumnus and Alpha Chapter’s most ardent supporter. This event was enjoyed by 60 members at the beginning of the second semester.

Students enjoying a game of foosball
at the Holiday Party

In celebration of the end of the freshmen’s Gross Anatomy course, every year we host a Post Gross Anatomy Party. This year’s party was held at Drifters Bar & Grill. The festivities were enjoyed by not only the freshmen, but also sophomores, juniors, seniors and the Anatomy Faculty: Dr. Seibel, Dr. Gartner and Dr. Meszler.

As is the Alpha Chapter’s tradition, we had several elementary school visits to Federal Hill Elementary School organized by Holly Thomas. Students from Pre-Kindergarten to the 5th grade were taught about how caries form, foods they should and should not be eating and proper flossing and brushing technique. The students were given toothbrushes and activity sheets for their participation. These children have grown accustomed to our visits and one student expressed her excitement for seeing us the next year!

Holly Thomas with Elementary school children

As always, the senior banquet was a great hit. It was held at the Hunt Valley Country Cluband featured custom pasta entrées made on the spot! Graduating seniors had a chance to give PHT (pushing him/her through) Awards to those that made getting through dental school possible for them. Scholastic Achievement awards were given to 3 students this year for their academic distinction: Laura Vivier, Antonia Jones, and Emily Smythe. Congratulations!! We also presented Fraternal Achievement awards to Reya Weeks, past president, and Holly Thomas, elementary school program chair. We thank them for their exemplary contributions to the chapter’s activities. Alpha Chapter also presented certificates of appreciation to members who ran various activities and made this a very successful fraternal year.

Volunteers and blood donors at the Blood Drive

Rising sophomore Bahar Zarrabi organized a blood drive with the American Red Cross this past April. This blood drive succeeded in getting 31 donations from the 50 people who had signed up for the event. Participants included Alpha chapter members and students from the various schools on campus, including faculty and staff members. We hope that this blood drive will be the first of many organized by our chapter. Thanks go out to the volunteers who helped run the drive during the entire day and special thanks also goes to Bahar for spearheading this event and showing us that it can be done!

Alpha members working at the
Habitat for Humanity project

This Semester’s Habitat for Humanity community service project was organized by Steve Kuzmak and was held on April 21st. Six of our members made it out to an East Baltimore reconstruction and revitalization area with 300 homes and worked on repairing masonry, spackling and painting rooms, installing handrails and molding. What made the project even more rewarding was that one of the homeowners was there to help with the remodeling of the homes.

The month of April also saw the Alpha Chapter Happy Hour for members and significant others at Pickle’s Pub. This event, attended by about 70 people, gave everyone a chance to relax from the hustle and bustle of school, exams and clinic.

Members asking questions of Dr. Ginsberg and
Dr. Daley at Specialty Night

This semester’s Specialty Night was held at Harbor View on May 3rd and featured guest speakers in various fields who offered a glimpse into their specialties and also answered questions that students had. Dr. Byron Bonebreak, an Orthodontist spoke about his specialty. Dr. Tom Daley spoke about Periodontics, and Pedodontics was covered by Dr. Ed Ginsberg. Twenty-five members attended this event hosted by our previous year’s president, David Bonebreak.

Dr. Reya Weeks, David Bonebreak, Dr. Travis Weeks
with Deputy Councilor

Scholastic Achievement Award winners Laura Vivier
and Emily Smythe, Dr. Daley, Vanessa Benavent, president-elect, and Dr. Seibel.

Rising sophomore Julia Lokitis took the initiative to design and sell Polo shirts for our chapter members. Yellow and Navy shirts were sold with the Psi Omega logo. These shirts will help us advertise our chapter during the Rush this coming year. Thanks to Julia for taking the initiative and making this possible!

This year ended with elections for next year’s officers. David Bonebreak passed on the torch to Vanessa Benavent as president, and vice presidents were elected for each class. We hope that the new officers will bring new and more exciting opportunities to serve our community and make our time in dental school all the more memorable. The outlook on the 07-08 year is bright with lots of activities on the horizon. We wish the graduated seniors the best of luck in their chosen paths.

Dr. Seibel with the graduating seniors

Our Alpha chapter would also like to thank Dr. Seibel, our Deputy Councilor, for his years of dedication to this fraternity since 1999 when he helped restart the Alpha chapter. We wish Dr. and Mrs. Seibel a long and happy retirement.

Our chapter is being entrusted to Dr. Byron Bonebreak, the new Deputy Councilor, and Dr. Christine Ferrell, Assistant deputy Councilor and past chapter president. We look forward to working with them in the years to come.

– Melody Daroogar (’10), Editor

1040 Savannah Highway
Charleston, SC 29407

Telephone: (843) 556-0573
Fax: (843) 556-6311