As Foresight Leaders, Second-Year Students Guide the New Class

Dental school is a journey filled with quizzes, quests, and questions. But from the beginning, RSDM students aren’t alone in their expedition.

During orientation, a group of second-year students steps up to mentor the incoming class as part of the Foresight Program, which found life with the efforts of Vice Dean Kim Fenesy decades ago. Foresight leaders organize events, provide study tips, and offer guidance to the incoming class not only in their first few days but also throughout their first year. In this cycle, 10 leaders are supporting the 91 first-year predoctoral candidates.

“Students selected to the program represent the values and the mission of the school and the profession,” said Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Diversity, and Inclusion, Herminio Perez, who oversees Foresight.

2022 Foresight leaders. Austin Varughese (back, left), Yuliana Cruz Herrera, Kinga Dabek, Pardis Abdollahnejad, Matthew Amador, Jalen Bonnitto, Zoe Singer, Mark Ibrahim, Mara Senchak, Andrew Mesiha.

Two leaders and the program’s co-chairs are New Jersey natives Matthew Amador and Kinga Dabek.

Starting RSDM during the pandemic, Dabek recalled how everything felt uncertain. Then, she virtually met her Foresight leader. “She was always like a rock to reach out to if I had any questions—from that first email all the way through my D1 year,” she said. “I really wanted to be able to draw from those experiences and … give back to the incoming D1s.”

Now, as a Foresight leader, Dabek tries to be a rock for the new class.

“One of my favorite things about being a Foresight leader is seeing their excitement and passion about the field of dentistry, but also being able to guide them with the transition,” she said. “We always try to maintain communication with them so that they feel comfortable reaching out to us.”

Foresight leaders also conduct surveys to match each first-year with a second-year student as part of “The Bigs and The Littles” program for one-on-one mentorship and for developing friendships.

Community is essential for Dabek. She has always been interested in health care, but her first introduction to dentistry was in high school when she began interning for a dentist in her senior year. She loved it so much that she enrolled in an accelerated undergraduate program to quickly enroll at RSDM.

“I knew I wanted to practice here [in New Jersey] because I have a connection with the community, and I wanted to be able to continue to give back,” said Dabek, a member of the East Rutherford and Polish communities. “That's why I thought Rutgers would be a good fit for me. And it has definitely turned out to be.”

Amador, on the other hand, truly enjoyed going to the dental office as a kid. Those positive experiences prompted him to consider dentistry as a career path. He started helping an orthodontist, which reaffirmed his decision and led him to join at RSDM last year.

“I very much did enjoy my orientation,” said Amador, who will become the first doctor in his family. But he also noticed ways to improve the program for the next cohort. “As the year progressed and I saw myself growing as a dental student, I realized that I would be a great person to help make those changes … and pass on my methods for success and what I learned to all the newer students.”

One of the new additions he facilitated was a trip to a minor league baseball game attended by over 50 first-year students. “That was the best turnout at a social event I've seen here,” he said. They also organized trivia and played icebreakers games. This year’s leaders also tried to introduce every member of the class to each other by rotating groups throughout the activities.

Being a Foresight leader was also beneficial for Amador. He developed new friendships with other leaders. The program also enabled him to reflect on his first year, think about what went right, and pass those on to others.

“I'm going to have a better second year than I otherwise would have,” he said, “and that's thanks to a program like this, so D2s and D1s benefit equally.”