Greene stays busy while polishing her skills
–by Cindy Petersen, Communique’
Most people aren’t 100 percent sure what career they’d like to pursue but Madeline Greene, a dental technology major and a member of the Honor Society at Kirkwood Community College, knew exactly what she wanted to do when she graduated from high school.
“I’ve always wanted to do something in the dentistry field. Ever since I was little I’ve been interested in teeth. The first thing I notice about a person is their smile,” she said.
Greene is originally from Deep River in southern Iowa County and graduated from English Valley High School in 2006. Her family includes her parents, two sisters and a brother. She doesn’t have a lot of spare time and usually spends what time she does have doing schoolwork or spending time with her fiancée, Kyle Yoss. They are planning to get married in September 2009.
Between school and planning a wedding, I haven’t had much time for anything else,” she said. Though she is not currently employed she did work-study during her first year at Kirkwood.
Greene said she hasn’t quite decided if she is going to get a full-time job right away or make plans to attend dental college. “It’s still really up in the air right now,” she said. She added that she would be taking a couple Spanish classes this summer at Kirkwood.
Greene spent the end of last summer participating in the study abroad program. She and a group of health science students traveled to Guatemala, where they helped out the residents by providing free dental check-ups, donating clothing, building houses and helping out any way they could.
“It was kind of tough at first because there was just so much to do but once we started working with the people and helping out it wasn’t that bad. The experience was very rewarding. I really enjoyed being able to help them,” said Greene.
Greene would like to join the group when they travel to Guatemala again this year but she said she knows that’s out of the question.
“I just have so much going on. I don’t think that will be an option for me right now but I’d like to return there someday,” she said.
According to Greene, when she does find time to have some fun she likes to read, run, go on motorcycle rides with her fiancée and play softball with her family.
[Courtesy Kirkwood Communique’. Copyright 2009. Used by permission.]