Amy Neussl, the student commencement speaker, graduates this month with her Bachelor of Science degree in dental hygiene. She has been a top student at the Fones School of Dental Hygiene, with a GPA of nearly 4.0. She is an outstanding athlete — a varsity volleyball player — and a true student leader. Further, she's already made commitments to her profession, becoming a registered dental hygienist and, in the past year, taking on a position with Fones as a public health instructor, supervising students out on rotation at a Bridgeport school and clinic. Next, she plans to go to dental school.
Ms. Neussl came to the university from Juneau-Douglas High School in Alaska. She saw UB as an opportunity to pursue her interests in dental hygiene while participating in NCAA intercollegiate athletics. The distance didn't bother her; she's used to traveling. In Alaska, high school teams fly to games away from their home court. It helped that Ms. Neussl has a grandmother and other relatives in Worcester, Mass., where a bus, train, or car could get her there in no time. Her father is a captain in the Coast Guard, so reassignments come frequently. This time, her parents got better weather for Amy to come home to — Honolulu — but it's farther away. Hawaii is a six-hour time difference; Alaska was just four.
UB made a comfortable second home for Ms. Neussl. She enjoyed her classes and her rotations into the community programs, one of the strengths of the Fones program. Her volleyball coaches went out of their way to make her fit in and help her get to games from assignments in agencies in the region. One day, when working on assignment in the Norwalk Hospital clinic, the coach and team came by the hospital to pick her up and take her to a New York game.
She has especially fond memories of Coach Valerie Steen and Assistant Coach Jermaine Clark, and her best friend, roommate, teammate, and first patient, Jessi Bornack. They've been together four years and will graduate together. She also praised Meghan Kavanagh, associate athletic director, and Jeff Stay in athletic training.
There have been many memorable moments for Amy. "When you are a senior in high school, you just hope that you are making the right decision," she said. "Looking back, I couldn't have made a better choice."
Amy's senior research project tied in her professional interests with
sports. She did a study of the attitudes toward mouthguards among ice
hockey players in the American Hockey League, thanks to the assistance of John Sullo, athletic trainer of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. In neither the National Hockey League nor AHL are mouthguards mandated. Amy did her study by survey, which has drawn considerable interest, with more than 300 responses from 18 professional teams.
Source: University of Bridgeport
