For my community connection project, I reached out to a dentist, Doctor Afarin Pahlavan who works at Acu Dental! https://www.acudentalclinic.ca/about-acu-dental/

Why are you passionate about your job?

Dentistry for me has always been a dream to follow since childhood. My mother is a dentist in my home country and she was the most valuable role model in my life. After shadowing the nature of dentistry and observing her as a dentist, I got more and more interested in pursuing dentistry as my future career.

What obstacles have you faced to get get you where you are today?

Going through university while having a part-time job was actually a challenge for me in my undergrad years. In order to score high grades in my university courses I had to put my 100% effort into studying and at times I had difficulty maintaining that since I had to work outside of school to cover my expenses. I also encountered some other hardships dealing with family members not feeling well and going though sickness and unexpected medical conditions. I would say those were the obstacles that I came across when I was on this journey.

What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?

I would advise them to focus hard on studying and doing extracurricular activities. When it comes to competition between applicants applying for medical and dental schools, it is important to achieve those standards and be able to stand higher than the other competing individuals. In order to maintain high grades in university, you have to study hard and stay absolutely focused. Therefore I would say the most important advice is to study hard and stay active for extracurricular activities outside of university.

Would you be open to further contact from Riverside students and if so, how can someone contact you?

Yes, and they can directly contact me through my

Email address.

What is your proudest achievement throughout dentistry?

My proudest achievement throughout dentistry is being able to develop skills in the practice of dentistry as well as patient management within a short period of time. Since my passion has always been dentistry I have always been eager to improve my skills in dentistry and have always been wanting to learn new things in the dental field.

Is it worth it to go through all the schooling?

Yes, absolutely, in my belief, if you’d truly believe in yourself and think that you can have big dreams and you believe in your own achievements, then dentistry is a fantastic goal to choose!

After interviewing Doctor Pahlavan, I am now even more inspired to pursue and achieve my goals in life. I chose Doctor Pahlavan because I am interested in medicine and dentistry. I am leaning towards medical school, however, I wanted to interview someone in a different field to look at my options. Nevertheless, both fields Doctor Pahlavan says are completely worth it! One way I have connected with Doctor Pahlavan is our passion for our dreams and goals. I have had a passion to pursue a career in the medical field for as long as I can remember, and she says claims that when she was younger she had the same envision to become a dentist. I am passionate about medicine because of my high interest in science and the endless possibilities of building new skills and making new discoveries. Although I am excited to embark on my journey throughout medicine, Doctor Pahlavan talked about how extracurriculars and side passions are also important. I have been dancing since I was two years old and it is something in which I find great comfort in. I have been also thinking about taking on acting and drama due to my love of being on stage. I was unsure about which path I should take, however, I am always open in double majoring and as Doctor Pahlavan said, it is important to stay active on the side. Choosing the path of dentistry or perhaps an orthodontist are also some careers I have had in mind because they fall in the medical and science category.

I am at the age where I am open to a number of career options, however, Doctor Pahlavan helped me understand something extremely insightful and that is to follow your passion. Based on her experiences, like many people, university is a difficult time. Doctor Pahlavan is a great example of how the struggle of paying, attending and studying for university does not come easy and will take great courage and strength. In addition, she had to go through family difficulties which can add on a great deal of stress. With this amount of pressure, it is very common for people to give up, but Doctor Pahlavan found resiliency through her passion. She talked a lot about how being passionate about what you do is important, otherwise, you will not obtain the motivation needed to study and to be successful. When truly understanding what you are passionate about and what you truly love doing, finding a career and choosing a rightful path will come naturally. Doctor Pahlavan does say how although it is difficult if u like what you are doing then you will strive harder and harder to achieve your goal. I am extremely grateful for this experience because this is the kind of push I needed to lead me in the right direction. If my heart is truly set on the arts, I need to understand that it is a difficult industry and that is why having more than one passion is useful. I am now more motivated to follow both science and art dreams because I have understood the power of passion and what it can do to someone. I have learned from Doctor Pahlavan that passion is the key to push you in the right direction of being successful in the future. Without passion, you are simply searching for something that you know you will not enjoy doing. Whatever path you chose, you have to keep in mind that this is your future and it is in your hands. No one else but you can tell you what your passion is and it is up to you to choose your path wisely.

I found this community connection project empowering and inspiring because I have learned so much. I have learned about how passion is a priority when choosing a path and I have learned that I will experience many difficulties in my future. I am very glad to have chosen Doctor Pahlavan as my connection and I am very thankful for her to have taken the time to complete this interview. Making community connections no matter what career path I am going to follow is important because I have now gained more knowledge about how I can take my passion and turn it into my life. I feel that after talking to Doctor Pahlavan, I am less scared to go to university because I understand that if you put in your full effort, anything is possible and her successes have demonstrated that greatly.