Dental Students’ Society Brings Students Together with House System
By Rachel Boutet
Imagine joining dental school and immediately having a group of people literally on your team. Think Harry Potter, but with a dental twist.
That’s what 2023 class president, Dave Dunbar, and vice-president, Adam Tepperman, aimed to do as leads of the Dental Students’ Society (DSS) House System.
The DSS House System places every DDS student in one of 12 houses with approximately 37 other students from every DDS year.
“The DSS wanted a way to connect people from multiple years,” says Dunbar. “There are class councils for every year as well as the DSS itself, but we wanted to bring all of that together. The culmination of that goal is the DSS House System.”
Dunbar notes that the House System is an evolution of the existing Peer Mentorship Program which pairs third- and fourth-year students with first year students. These mentorship leaders are now house captains.
“In the future, we’d like to fully merge the Peer Mentorship Program into the DSS House System but house captains will still have the peer mentorship responsibility,” says Tepperman.
Each house is named after a street in Toronto with its own colour, logo, and unique name based off a dentistry term, such as The Carlton St. Crowns and The Lakeshore Loupes. Dunbar and Tepperman worked closely with professor Jim Lai, vice-dean of education, to ensure all of the names were inclusive and aligned with the Faculty’s commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
Tepperman says the House System came about when they saw a need for social integration of first years and uppers years that wasn’t being addressed – so they took action.
“It can be hard to take initiative when you’re just trying to get through school, one year at a time,” says Tepperman. “Dave and I were lucky to have the footing to take a step in the right direction at the end of our second year. This year, in our third year, we’ve done a lot of planning. Next year we can really focus on execution.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, it’s been a challenge to run in-person events, but the DSS House System is involved in running a variety of virtual events including weekly house quiz nights, vendor fairs, various presentations and talks, and a meatless Monday initiative.
Dunbar notes there are two main parts of the House System: the social part, connecting students from all years, and the competition part, where attending events can win a participant points for their house and for individual awards. DDS2 student Pegi Kaimi is the House Cup Commissioner and will be responsible for the year-end event, crowning both the House and individual winners. Next year, with restrictions hopefully removed, they are hoping to host an introductory event during orientation week and “House Olympics” at the end of year with physical, artistic and strategic components.
Dunbar adds that none of this would have been possible without some key individuals.
“Dr. Richard Rayman, our director of student life, is the House System’s faculty lead – he has really helped guide this system into a reality,” he says. “And without Adam, we wouldn’t have these brilliant logos – he worked tremendously hard on them and they turned out amazing.”
As the DSS House System continues to roll out, Tepperman hopes that every student will have at least a few people they can reach out to, school-related or not.
“It can be easy for those who are outgoing to make connections, but often challenging for others,” he says. “I hope the House System will make every student feel like they are really part of our community.”
Photo: The DSS House System Logos (Adam Tepperman and Dave Dunbar)