A series of dead-end jobs drove Jillian Scott to do what she wasn’t sure she would ever do—go back to school. After dropping out of high school at age 17, Jillian had worked at gas stations, cell phones stores and even done custodial work but as she neared her 30th birthday she was tired of it. She worked hard for her GED but as soon as she had it, she knew she wasn’t ready to stop. The day after she got her GED, she enrolled in the Dental Assistant (DA) program at Florida Career College in Jacksonville. “I’ve always loved teeth,” Jillian said. “I used to suffer from severe mental illness and ..read more

Wakemia Thompson describes herself as a procrastinator but after years of working temporary jobs, she was ready to find something she could do as a career. Wakemia dropped out of high school after having her daughter at age 16. She had done nails and worked different contracted jobs for a temp agency, always with school in the back of her mind. “I was planning on going to do adult education somewhere, but I had done that multiple times,” she said. “When I say multiple, I mean probably like ten times. I end up dropping out of it because it didn’t connect for me.” It wasn’t until she toured Flor ..read more

If you’re interested in becoming a dental assistant, you might be wondering: what are the differences between a dental assistant vs. a dental hygienist. This post provides you with everything you need to know about the differences between dental hygienists and dental assistants. If you’re interested in becoming a dental assistant, consider enrolling in FCC’s Dental Assistant Program. The great thing about the program is that it can be completed, and you can earn your diploma in as few as 10 months, placing you on the fast track to becoming a dental assistant. Interested In Our Dental Assistan ..read more

Chardonnay Moore’s interest in dentistry initially evolved from parental guilt. A young mother of two daughters, Chardonnay said she unknowingly bottle fed her oldest child for too long. This led to significant damage to her teeth. “She had a lot of decalcification,” Chardonnay said. “It was eating at her teeth, so they had to put silver caps on most of her teeth except for her front ones. It was her first visit (to the dentist), and they had to put her under. It hurt me because I didn’t know that would happen.” While painful, the experience led Chardonnay toward a desire to learn more about t ..read more

There’s no better classroom than the real world. The hands-on training and education you can get by putting newly-acquired knowledge and skills into practice via a dental assisting externship helps establish a level of permanence within a student’s career toolbox and helps them build confidence in themselves and their abilities. This is why externships play such an essential role in the education and training we provide in certain programs we teach at Florida Career College, including the Dental Assistant program. By applying what they learned at Florida Career College within a real-world envi ..read more

Ever since Aaliyahna McDonald began taking courses as part of the Dental Assistant program at Florida Career College (FCC) back in April, she’s paid close attention to a bulletin board that hangs just outside her Pembroke Pines classroom. On this board is where new scholarship opportunities are posted. So, as an 18-year-old who was largely paying out-of-pocket for her education, it made sense that Aaliyahna didn’t want to miss out on anything that could potentially help her financially. It’s here that she first learned about the Dr. Carolyn Ghazal Dental Assistant Scholarship offered by the Pa ..read more

When she was 12 years old, Sekhiah Israel-Rice’s dad unexpectedly passed away, leaving her mother to raise 10 children completely on her own. Sekhiah’s parents had been together since high school, and the sudden death sent her heartbroken mother scrambling to simply raise enough money to bury her husband. “But, she kept pushing,” Sekhiah said. “She got what she needed for the funeral, and then she went to school for nursing. I’m so proud of her. Even from elementary through middle and high school, I couldn’t fathom how she could take care of 10 kids, feed them, keep a roof over our heads and t ..read more

At the age of 16, Janet Morales gave birth to the first of her four children. From that point forward, she lived her life in survival mode. Like so many teen moms before her, she quit school to better support her new family, fully intent on going back and getting her GED as soon as possible. But, a growing family coupled with an abusive relationship not only derailed these plans; she became anxious and depressed, losing the self-confidence needed to pursue a better life. And, at any given time, she was juggling two or three jobs in order to make ends meet as a single mom. “It was me not having ..read more

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, 26-year-old Yanilisse Perkins was in her fourth year of working at a job that left her feeling drained, tired and unfulfilled. The daily grind of working at the rental car company wasn’t physically demanding, but she often felt surrounded by negativity and worried about how that might affect her family life. “When I was there, I felt down every day,” she said. “And, I was passing it along to my home. I needed an atmosphere where I loved what I was doing. Life is hard enough to put yourself in the position of having to deal with negativity every s ..read more

Adriana Sepulveda, dental assistant student and Colombian immigrant, selected for a $5,000 scholarship and mentoring program. Adriana Sepulveda was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. As a child, she was inspired by her grandfather to think about a dental career. “In order to be a dentist at that time, you also had to study medicine, and that’s what my grandfather did in the United States,” Adriana explained. After medical and dental school, he returned to Columbia and set up the first medical and dental clinic in the Santander region. “I am a woman with a lot of gratitude for life. I come fr ..read more