The connection between cheerleading and the field of dentistry is quite clear for Ashley Hobbs (B.S.D.H. ’11). 作为堪萨斯城酋长队（Kansas City Chiefs）拉拉队的一员，她利用自己的运动技能在箭头体育场（Arrowhead Stadium）鼓舞人群，让他们保持微笑。 Now, as a dental hygienist, she’s still focused on bright smiles – but she’s using a different set of skills to motivate and engage with her patients.
“You are their oral health coach,” Hobbs said of her patients. “As a cheerleader, you bring positivity, and you lift everyone up. 我对我的病人也这么做。 You are encouraging them to not only improve their oral health, but their overall quality of life.”
霍布斯是一名儿科牙科保健师，是威尼斯人娱乐城的一名自豪的校友和教职员工。 从2013年到2016年，她还是酋长队的啦啦队长，这是她与其他牙科学院校友分享的独特经历。 这所学校的校友队伍中有几名前酋长队的啦啦队员，至少有一名酋长队的鼓手。
这些校友在他们的职业生涯中吸取了宝贵的经验。 For Hobbs, Tim Albright (D.D.S. ’21) and Kathryn Teruya (D.D.S. ’22), the experience reinforced the importance of discipline, teamwork and putting people first.
在人群和椅子上微笑
从2016年到2020年，作为酋长队鼓队KC Rumble的一员，奥尔布赖特被人群所激励。 现在他从病人的感激中得到了这种感觉。 Whether it’s an undetectable filling or a straightened Invisalign finish, the smiles of his patients take him back to his days drumming in front of 70,000 screaming fans.
“I still experience euphoria whenever I have a solid crown,” Albright said. “Your patient is happy, they’re gleaming. It’s the same look I would get playing music for people. It keeps me going.”
在球迷面前的时间并不局限于比赛日。 隆隆声和拉拉队在整个星期都在公开露面。 这些与人交流的机会为他们将来的主席互动做了准备。
“Everybody has something they’re passionate about. With people who may be apathetic about their dental care, you’re trying to find what sparks them,” Albright said. “Once you find their icebreaker, you’re able to make that connection.”
公众露面也为霍布斯提供了磨练儿科技能的机会。 经常有孩子们兴奋地想见啦啦队。 Those conversations laid the groundwork for the six years she’s practiced in pediatric dentistry.
“Just learning how to interact with them,” Hobbs said. “I took everything that I learned from the Chiefs and applied it to my work in pediatrics.”
舞蹈、击鼓和牙科学科
无论是打鼓还是跳舞，都有一个共同点：纪律。 这三个人都认为，在各自的领域取得成功所需的纪律，帮助他们管理严格的牙科学校。
这种纪律早在奥尔布赖特七年级时就形成了，当时他开始练习打鼓，每天晚上都会练习到午夜。 然而，牙科学校改变了他的观点。
“I don’t think you need 10,000 hours to master something anymore,” Albright said. “I learned in dental school about the importance of deliberate practice.”
在啦啦队中，纪律也是必不可少的，因为日程安排很紧。 对霍布斯来说，为酋长队加油就像是她作为一名卫生师的全职工作之外的一份全职工作。 除了长时间的比赛日，她每周都要露面，每天训练5个小时。 她还接受了体能测试、强制性训练课程和在健身房的额外时间。
“I was newly graduated and new to the dental hygiene profession,” Hobbs said. “It was a struggle juggling both lives.”
Hobbs和Teruya说，他们对舞蹈的热爱促使他们承担了繁重的日程安排。 霍布斯拥有舞蹈学位，住在纽约，在来到威尼斯人娱乐城之前与专业舞蹈公司一起表演。 她在牙科卫生学校教舞蹈。
Dance has been a presence in Teruya’s life since she was three. A former Miss Hawaii (she was crowned in 2017), she’s an experienced dancer in hula, ballet and jazz. 她把自己在牙科事业上的成功归功于舞者追求完美的天性。
“We always joked on our (Chiefs) dance team that a lot of us are type-A people,” Teruya said. “这和牙科很有关系。 We like things orderly and in a particular way.”
尽管对霍布斯和特鲁雅来说，舞蹈的吸引力很强，但他们的首要任务始终是威尼斯人娱乐城。 霍布斯一心只想成为一名全职教员。 特鲁雅在牙科学校期间参加了许多活动，包括2020年至2021年的酋长啦啦队。 但她最看重的是未来的牙医。
“First and foremost, I moved from Hawaii to Kansas City to be a dental student,” she said.
牙科实践中的团队和社区
霍布斯和特鲁雅承认，啦啦队的日程安排很紧张。 但她们喜欢成为一个女性团队的一员，她们互相扶持，无论是字面上还是比喻上。
“It’s much more than just dancing on the sidelines,” said Hobbs. “It became a sisterhood where you were supportive of one another and you were in it together.”
During Teruya’s time at 威尼斯人娱乐城, her two teams joined together for TeamSmile, an event at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium with Chiefs players, coaches and cheerleaders during which 威尼斯人娱乐城 students and faculty provide dental care to underserved children. 她以学生和啦啦队长的双重身份参加了比赛。
“It was one of my favorite memories,” Teruya said. “It was really special to be able to celebrate my classmates and connect with the kids.”
The moments standing in front of a crowd at “the loudest stadium in the world” may now be only memories for Hobbs, Teruya and Albright, but those memories serve a purpose. 形成的纪律，建立的牢固纽带，以及激励人群所带来的感受，都对他们作为牙科专业人员的身份产生了影响。 奉献精神、社区意识和帮助人们的动力将快乐和牙科的世界联系在一起。
“Every single year a student will ask, ‘were you really a Chiefs cheerleader?’ and every time I wonder, ‘when will this not be a thing anymore?’” Hobbs said. “But those are some of the best memories of my life and I wouldn’t change it.”
“We always joked on our Chiefs dance team that a lot of us are type-A people. 这和牙科很有关系。 We like things orderly and in a particular way.”
— Kathryn Teruya (DDS ’22)“As a cheerleader, you bring positivity, and you lift everyone up. 我对我的病人也这么做。”
— Ashley Hobbs (BSDH ’11)