On Sunday, February 18, 2018, nine volunteers from the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) served their community by volunteering at the 2018 Tet In Boston Festival. The annual event, held at Boston College High School, drew about 7,000 attendees to celebrate the new lunar year and preserve and promote Vietnamese-American culture. This year, Mayor Marty Walsh stopped by the festivities.
The GSDM chapter of the Asian Dental Student Association (ADSO) volunteers at this event in collaboration with the School’s Office of Global and Population Health (GPH). At the festival, GSDM had a booth where our students interacted with festival-goers and worked to promote oral health throughout the community.
The GSDM volunteers were Stefany Barba DMD 21, Ibi Etomi DMD 21, Zoya Tharani DMD 21, Jordan Yee DMD 20, Dhwani Dhabalia (preceptorship), Kezia Varghese (preceptorship), Christine Chiao DMD 19, Taylor Paek DMD 20, and Ms. Kathy Lituri, Oral Health Promotion Director and Clinical Instructor, Global and Population Health.
Tet in Boston is an annual Vietnamese New Year Festival organized by the Vietnamese-American Community of Massachusetts and the Intercollegiate Vietnamese Student Association that every year attracts between 5,000-7,000 attendees and over 50 vendors. There was also a raffle, beauty pageant, food vendors, and more.