Student Q&A: Dental Assisting Student Jaylynn Foster Blossoms as Community Leader on San Joaquin Valley College Temecula Campus 

Born and raised in the Inland Empire of Southern California, Jaylyn had her first introduction to San Joaquin Valley College in high school. Looking for a direction in her life, she was offered a tour of the SJVC Temecula campus. Jaylynn was familiar with the area of dentistry because she had worn braces for seven years. She always liked the family environment and friendly staff of the dental office. When she explored the option at SJVC to study in the Dental Assisting program, it all clicked. She realized pursuing a career in the dental field gave her all the opportunity she needed to keep growing.  

What she didn’t know about the SJVC community and would soon discover was that she was a highly organized and extremely productive community leader! Jaylynn began her studies at SJVC in April 2024 and will be graduating in February 2025. In that short time, she will have served on the Associated Student Body (ASB) committee, an organization whose goal is to get students from all SJVC campus programs engaged in community activities and is now President of the ASB Club. She also participates in the Federal Work Study program as a Student Tutor.  

There is much more to Jaylynn than getting a certificate! She has found other ways to get engaged on campus and is helping create an inclusive college experience, engaging all the student body to come together and get to know each other.  

What is it about the ASB committee that is the most motivating work for you? 

To get the whole student body engaged. We just had a wonderful turnout on campus for a food drive. 

What kinds of other events do you organize? 

 Besides the food drives we have a blood drive coming up, a few fundraisers on campus where we’ll sell nachos and ice cream on campus. We just had the Fall Festival, which happened on campus in between class breaks.  We hosted games that students could play for prizes, served food and drinks, and we set up some Karaoke too! 

That does sound fun! That’s a lot going on…How do you, personally, stay focused with so much to oversee? 

Time management is a huge aspect for me – the key though is having the motivation to do so. 

So then, what keeps you going? 

If I can make anyone else’s day better, it makes my day better.  

You’re helping to give these students an inclusive environment and a chance to meet others outside of their program. But is it difficult to meet others on campus? 

Personally, I don’t think so. Maybe at the very beginning it took me some time to build up the courage to enter the student break room without knowing anyone; but once I did and started to be open to talking with other students from my class and from other classes in my program, soon that gave me more courage to talk to students from all types of other programs.  

Any other advice for students who are just starting out? 

Sure! I would say tell a new student to keep pushing through. And when it gets hard what helps me to get through stress is to take everyday one day at a time. I would also say to be sure to do a few study groups with your classmates.

I’m sure you have some goals…What are they for next year? In five years? In ten years? 

My first goal is to get hired at Murrieta Modern Dentistry. In five years, I’d like to be a registered dental assistant lead…and in ten years, I hope to have gone back to school and become a registered dental hygienist!