Orientation Week 2026: DDS Rewind

By Rachel Boutet

The first graduating class of the next decade has officially joined the Faculty of Dentistry. The Class of 2030 is about to embark on a week’s worth of orientation activities under the theme “DDS Rewind.”

“It’s a play on the classic YouTube Rewind, but more broadly, it’s a celebration of nostalgia and the memories that have shaped our dental community,” says Grace Yu 2T9, one of the O-Week coordinators along with Sina Chegini 2T9 and Matthew Huynh 2T9. “Our theme is especially meaningful this year as we welcome the Class of 2030, marking the beginning of a new decade of future dentists, while taking a moment to rewind and reflect on the decade behind us.”

In keeping with tradition, this year’s itinerary will include the White Coat Ceremony, plus a CN Tower dinner and boat cruise, as well as mini “recess” games. At this year’s Centre Island day, each student will record a brief message to their future selves to look back on at graduation.  

The planning of Orientation Week is no small feat, but the coordinators didn’t hesitate to get involved, reflecting on how meaningful their own first weeks at the Faculty were.

“Dental school can be intense. What made my first year so memorable was the community we built and the memories we created,” says Yu. “O-Week was the beginning of so many of those relationships and I remember being really grateful for the people who worked so hard to create those experiences. I wanted to be on the other side of that and create the space for the incoming class to meet each other and have some fun together.”

Huynh adds that his O-Week experience helped him transition into a new chapter of his life. “Being such a monumental week for me, I really wanted to run it back and experience it a second time but this time from a different POV. During my own orientation, I remember feeling so comfortable, social, energized, and I could feel that energy being reciprocated from everybody else at those events too. It made for some of the best interactions and memories.”

Chegini notes that coming into dental school he didn’t know anyone in the program, so the idea of meeting 95 other students was quite daunting.

“After Orientation Week, I felt like the friends I had made were ones I had already shared a lifetime of memories with,” he says. “O-Week made me beyond excited to start my dental school journey and look forward to spending long hours in the library studying for exams or trying new food spots around campus. I wanted to give the incoming class the same feeling I had after O-Week; the excitement of starting something new and knowing that I wasn’t doing it alone.”

The student services office, the office of student life and the alumni office offered financial assistance and planning for O-Week.