(By GLORIA NGUYEN)
It’s about 12:30 p.m. and Stina mumbles on her way to the canteen. She only has 15 minutes before she has to go back to the clinic and see her patients for the next three and a half hours.
“Setting up? Done. Paperwork? Done. Lunch? Well, enough time for a protein shake.”
Between sips, Stina talks about her daughter and her childhood. She suddenly stops for a few seconds. “That was quite a journey, right?”
This is a typical clinic day for Christina Marie Kumar – who goes by Stina – a first-year student at Austin Community College’s Dental Hygiene Program. In her teenage years, Stina never wanted to go to college. Now, as a mother of a 3-year-old girl, she decided to go back to college after years of discovering and experiencing.
“I didn’t come from a school system that focused on kids like me,” Stina says. “If I wasn’t motivated to do something with myself, they were not going to help me find my way.”
Not until Stina went to dental assisting school in her 20s did her career goals develop. “I fell in love with dentistry, and I absolutely loved public health initiatives,” she says. “I enjoyed being an assistant, but I wanted more.”
Stina eventually left her dental hygiene job to pursue higher education studies. “I started out as a pre-dental major, but I quickly realized that I had a real passion for culture and learning about the world.”
Stina ended up graduating with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and sociology. She then went on for her Master of Science in Education for Counseling with a specialization in student affairs leadership and practice.
Predominantly wanting to work with international students, Stina also has a passion for student activities, student conduct, and Title IX work on campus as well.
To foster these passions and have a better understanding of the student populations, she lived and volunteered on a campus in Bangalore, Karnataka, India where she worked in the international admissions office.
“It was an unforgettable experience, and I am so happy that I decided to pursue this opportunity even when I wasn’t supported by my university to implement this,” Stina says.
By the time they went back to the U.S., Stina was in her 30s. “I missed dentistry, and when the opportunity came around for me to follow a lost dream, I took it.”
Stina decided to study and take the entrance exam of ACC’s Dental Hygiene Program. Things were not easy for her at that point in her life, as she had just given birth to her daughter. But thanks to her husband, she mustered up her courage to register for the program.
“I tried my best to support her,” Kumar, Stina’s husband, says. “I never hesitated to help her go back to college because I knew she was capable.”
Stina started taking prerequisites for the dental hygiene coursework when her daughter was just 3 months old.
“It’s not easy at all, balancing studying and parenting,” Stina says. “But it has to be now.”
Now 12:45 p.m., Stina rushes to the clinic. Her first patient has shown up. She checks him in and explains to him how the procedure will go.
“I was nervous to start patient care, but I already feel so satisfied with this work,” Stina says. “But also, I am so excited to see what my future in dental hygiene has to offer. I made my own way, and I will be forever proud of myself for not giving up.”
