Around the Community

She also credits her network of family and friends, including dental school classmates whom she expects to be lifelong friends “I’m very thankful for everyone at home. My success down here, having two degrees from Michigan, wouldn’t have happened without the huge support system I have. My family, and my friends down here and my friends at home, and the entire community at home. Whether it’s a text or message or phone call asking how I’m doing, it really meant a lot to me I couldn’t have done this down here without them ”

“I’m just proud to be able to represent the KBIC (Keweenaw Bay Indian Community) and the west side of the U.P. It’s pretty unheard of for a dual-degree ‘Yooper’ to have degrees from such a prestigious school like Michigan.”

Beyond her family and tribal ties and the excitement of starting her career, living in the U.P. has other quality-oflife advantages that she can’t wait to re-engage with: the peace and quiet of nature away from the urban population centers; family time spent camping and boating on Lake Superior in the summers; the lake’s scenic vistas at sunrise and sunset; and a generally slower way of life along the rural roads.

“There’s nothing like growing up on dirt roads, that’s what I love,” Larson says. “It’s a beautiful place to live, but not a lot of people can handle those harsh winters with more than 300 inches of snow per year. Growing up way up north, I’m just used to it It’s second nature for me ”

“It’s like they say: You can take the girl out of the U P , but you can’t take the U.P. out of the girl.”

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral healthcare education, research, patient care and community service. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the school to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout Michigan. Classroom and clinic instruction prepare future dentists, dental specialists and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide. For more information about the School of Dentistry, visit us on the Web at: www.dent.umich.edu. Contact: Lynn Monson, associate director of communications, atdentistry.communications@umich.edu, or (734) 6151971.