Mouthing Off

Money Monday: What’s your side job? And a giveaway!

Predental

by  |  on October 1st, 2012  |  11 comments

UPDATE: Congratulations to Vijeta Limbekar, winner of this giveaway! I’m so impressed by everyone’s hidden talents and secret hobbies! Vijeta was chosen at random and hopefully this guide will help her pursue her dream of public health dentistry!

I’ve been a member of ASDA’s Central Office staff for more than four years and I’m still impressed by the variety of talents dental students bring to the association. Although my background consists of journalism and graphic design, I come from a family of scientists so I understand the left-brained people in this world. But what I love about dentistry is the combination of hard science and the creative aspect of making a denture or waxing a tooth. I can see this balance in the students I’ve worked with and the wide range of skills they possess–often far outside of the scope of dentistry.

Some of the students I’ve worked with have secret lives as an amazing athlete, an impressive public speaker or a talented food blogger. One of these “jack of all trades” that stands out is the artist behind most of the comics that appear in ASDA’s publications: John Syrbu, Iowa ’13. John has been contributing comic to ASDA News and Mouth for years. He has a Facebook page called Dental Art & Humor that has more than 16,000 likes.

Most recently, John used his talents as an artist and wrote the book he wished he’d had when he was applying to dental school: “The Complete Pre-dental Guide to Modern Dentistry.” This book is a great resource for predental students who are itching to know more about dentistry and get a leg up on the competition come application time. John has illustrated the entire book to help guide predental students through concepts from crowns to implants to maxillary anatomy. To purchase a copy for $19.99, click here. Or you can try your luck at winning a copy from MO!

John has donated a book to Mouthing Off for us to giveaway to one lucky reader. To win a copy of the book, leave a comment below telling us about your secret talent. The contest will close one week from today on Oct. 8 at 10am CST.

~Kim Schneider, communications editor

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  3. Money Monday: How residencies affect your finances
  4. Money Monday: the credit card conundrum
  5. Money Monday: win a scholarship to attend the AACD conference in Seattle
 
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Comments (11)

  1. Andi Monday - 01 / 10 / 2012
    My secret talent is my ability to win giveaway contests :)
  2. Ashley Phares, contributing editor Monday - 01 / 10 / 2012
    I do muscial theatre and knit! I always look forward to your cartoons in our issues, John :)
  3. Katie Divine Tuesday - 02 / 10 / 2012
    I was going to say baking treats but that's not so "secret" anymore... Maybe my selective memory for very weird things or places is a secret / fault, haha. John, love the work and "like" your facebook! :)
  4. Katie Sowa Wednesday - 03 / 10 / 2012
    My talent is recognizing sports casters/former NFL players/coaches.;)
  5. Daryn Lu Wednesday - 03 / 10 / 2012
    My secret talent is multitasking lecture and social media, haha. ;)
  6. Vijeta Limbekar Wednesday - 03 / 10 / 2012
    Hello! My name is Vijeta Limbekar, and I am aspiring dental student. During the day, I am the Manager of the Office of Oral Health for the Boston Public Health Commission, where my role is to improve the oral health of Boston residents through the various programs and resources that we have to offer. I am also a recent graduate of the BU School of Public Health. Thus, my aspiration lies in Public Health Dentistry. My secret talent is that I am budding Public Health Entrepreneur and chef. While in school, my colleagues and I started a Mobile Grocery Store Business, Bell Tower Foods ( You can check us out at --> Belltowerfoods.com ). We believe that eating healthy is not expensive, but inaccessable. Our mobile grocery store is able to stop in locations that are certified food deserts, and we are able to give these communities fresh, afforable fruits and vegetables. During the day, at work in the office, and at night I help out with the truck by selling fruits and vegetables. My passion is to cook, and to help our customers create delicious meals from fresh ingredients. I love writing new recipes and posting it on our Bell Tower Foods blog. Consequently, my secret talent is inventing new recipes using fresh ingredients :)
  7. sarah seckman Wednesday - 03 / 10 / 2012
    Hey, my secret talent i would say is knowing abunch of interesting but yet useless knoweledge or facts... and also I can spot a fake designer purse from like a mile away. haha. I also enjoy painting, drawing, photography, and making fine jewelry, but i dont know if you would consider that much of a secret :)
  8. James Kolstad Wednesday - 03 / 10 / 2012
    My friend and I used to make, bottle and sell our own hot sauce! He still does now but I do not anymore since I started dental school in Milwaukee. The hot sauce it called Majave! Check it out... http://majave.net/
  9. Andrew Sholudko Thursday - 04 / 10 / 2012
    Hi Everyone! My other huge passion besides dentistry is playing original music with my band Orphan Andies! We play mostly acoustic rock original music and we recorded our first album this summer at Dirt Floor Recording Studio in Chester, CT! You can check it out at www.soundcloud.com/orphanandies We are also on Facebook! so check us out! I play guitar and write most of the music for our unique singer/songwriter style performances!
  10. Ai T. Thursday - 04 / 10 / 2012
    I love to knit, crochet, and sew! I was teased as a child for doing these things because they were considered activities for "grannies." Now, everyone thinks it's cool! :)
  11. ghazal.S Monday - 08 / 10 / 2012
    My talent is in giving an impressive presentation usually about science or sociology and get everyone excited in the way that follow me until the end of the lecture.

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