Not An Undergrad, Not Yet An Alumni Guy Aboodi It has been few weeks since we came back from the latest AO convention in Florida. As always, it was a wonderful week: we enjoyed the great weather, we had lots of fun meeting old and new friends, and re-discovering what AO is all about. As I grow as a professional in AO, I learn more about the role of AO in my professional life. Please allow me to introduce myself: I’m Guy, a graduate of Tel Aviv University. Currently, I am a perio grad student at the University of Toronto. It was the sixth convention I attended, 4th as a young alumni, 2nd as a grad student. I guess this “in-between” situation - as I am not struggling with clinical requirements any more, and not yet facing the challenges of the “real world”, provides me with the opportunity to discover a different aspect of AO. It is one which I was not aware of previously: AO members have tons of experience, and they are happy to share and help! Since my first convention, students have always been told that they should take advantage and pick the brains of any of the alumni members. Yet it always felt a bit awkward to me, for which I take the blame. I was far from taking full advantage of what AO is all about. Very far. For that reason, I was very excited to be a part of the new initiative that took place during this convention: a studentalumni event which was completely dedicated to one-on-one interactions. I was fairly close to one of the organizers (my beautiful wife - Andrea Heckler), and I was able to see the list of alumni asking to take part in this event growing by the second. We actually stopped inviting alumni once we realized that we had twice as many alumni participants as students! I was a spectator during this event, and I had the opportunity to watch the interactions across the room. I quickly realized how fortunate we all are: having direct access to dentists who were in our shoes just few (or more...) years ago, but more than that – a dentist who loves to share their experience, guide with good advice, and help in any way they can. We, in our very first steps as young professionals, were given this amazing gift by Alpha Omega; all we need to do is ask. It is not a unique feature of convention attendees. Talk to the alumni in your local chapter. Ask! They will be so happy to answer. I believe that this is exactly what Fraternalism in AO is all about: helping with your “Professionalism” development. Supported by the base of Judaism, of course... Dr. Guy Aboodi with wife Dr. Andrea Heckler Page 2 April 2012 ● Volume 1, Issue 36 ● Alpha Omega Articulator ● http://students.ao.org hh