Not Only An Opportunity, But An Affirmation

Alex Hays stands on top of a snow-covered Mount Saint Helens in her graduation gown and cap, with a ��Թ� stoll on. — Alex Hays '22 poses in her graduation cap and gown on the summit of Mount St. Helens in 2022. Hays has summited the volcano in Washington three times. Contributed photo.

Some college students follow their career path from start to finish. Some change multiple times before discovering their calling, and others have experiences that take them from that calling and eventually bring them back.

��Թ� affirmed the ambition of Alex Hays ‘22 to become a dentist by providing her opportunities to work with everything but teeth.

A chemistry major with minors in biology and outdoor leadership, Hays participated in a national summer nuclear research program. She taught rock climbing and climbed mountains with Outdoor Pursuits. She started a club, revitalized another, and studied abroad for a year.

All of those experiences led Hays back to a career in dentistry and a specific desire to practice in a small community like her hometown of Gunnison, Colorado.

“I was able to try out a lot of different things and discovered that I didn’t like them as much as dentistry,” said Hays, now a graduate student at the University of Colorado’s School of Dental Medicine. “In a roundabout way, Pacific helped affirm that by having all of these other opportunities.”

The opportunities abounded. In 2020, Hays studied abroad in Perth, Australia. The region’s remote location, and Australia’s rigid COVID-19 protocols, allowed Hays to enjoy most of her year away while much of the rest of world shut down. In 2021, Hays was selected to participate in the American Nuclear and Radiochemistry Summer School, sponsored by the American Chemical Society and the U.S. Department of Energy. She was named the program’s Outstanding Student.

By the time she graduated as Pacific’s 2022 valedictorian, her career path was clear. “Pacific let me look at some other things, she said. “At the end of it, I was convinced that I wanted to do dentistry.”

Pacific’s 2022 undergraduate valedictorian, Hays said that the rigor that Pacific’s faculty provide in their classes positioned her to excel in dental school. When she sat for the Dental Admission Test, Hays didn’t buy a study course. She reviewed her notes from her Pacific classes.

“My classes had very excellent teaching, and at the same time very high standards,” Hays said. “Faculty saying, ‘You’re able to do it. We’re not going to make it easier because that’s a disservice to you.’ That was probably one of the biggest benefits. Obviously, dental school is challenging, but I know it could have been a lot more challenging if I didn’t have such a solid base coming in.”

In between the academic work, Hays found time to enjoy the outdoors and share that joy with others. Through Outdoor Pursuits, Hays guided rock-climbing, cross-country skiing, mountaineering and hiking trips, and was a teaching assistant for the rock-climbing course.

Where science classes provided the solid academic foundation, Hays’ work with outdoor leadership and Outdoor Pursuits provided her the foundation for navigating the human side of dentistry.

“Leading people to get over their fears on rock-climbing trips is sometimes remarkably similar to some tactics I use with a nervous patient,” Hays said. “I think there are more similarities than I would have imagined between a climbing harness and a dental chair.”

“The big thing Pacific helped with was that they allowed me to do so many different things. Pacific made it possible for me to do everything that I wanted to do and more.”

— Alex Hays '22

A Predestined Career Path

Alex Hays seated on left side in yellow gown, practicing giving a novocaine shot to another dental student. — Following her graduation from Pacific, Alex Hays '22, left, entered the University of Colorado's School of Dental Medicine. She is part of an inaugural cohort of dental students in the school's Rural Oral Health Care track. Submitted photo.

Hays discovered in high school how valuable a small-town dentist truly is. It was during a Friday night softball practice during her sophomore year in Gunnison, a city of just under 7,000 residents in western Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. She was practicing fielding fly balls into the sun. The ball missed her mitt and smashed into her mouth, pushing most of her front teeth back.

Hays called her mom, who was at an Oktoberfest celebration and hanging out with the family dentist, Josh Osborne. Within a couple of hours, Hays’ teeth were back in place and the group headed off to the local Elks Lodge for bingo night.

“After that, I started thinking more about general dentistry, and particularly dentistry in a small rural town,” Hays said. “I liked the idea of living in a remote rural area. Everybody needs dentists, and I really like the community connection there.”

Today, Hays is part of a University of Colorado program designed to train more dentists for rural practice. As part of the inaugural cohort of the university’s Rural Oral Health Care track, Hays will do the majority of her fourth-year rotations in small towns across Colorado, like the one she grew up in.

The program is a response to a pressing need for dentists in the state. A 2023 report by the found that 67% of rural areas are designated as Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas. That same year, the found that three in 10 residents of southeast Colorado reported fair or poor oral health, compared to nine of 10 reporting good oral health in urban counties.

Hays is excited that Pacific is doing its part to address the gap in rural oral health care accessibility in Oregon. Pacific’s recently accredited Master of Dental Therapy program will welcome its first six students for the 2027-28 academic year.

A bridge between dental hygienists and dentists, dental therapists are trained to perform basic dental work, including diagnosing and filling simple cavities, performing simple extractions and repairing dental prosthetics, along with performing dental exams. As of March 2026, dental therapists are approved for practice in 14 states, including Oregon and Colorado.

“I think it’s a really cool option and a way to help start bridging the gaps,” Hays said of the dental therapy program. “When it starts, that should open a lot of doors, especially when you start thinking about the hub-and-spoke model of practices. There could be a lot of very neat opportunities.”

As she prepares for her rotations, Hays looks forward to combining her education at Colorado with the skills and knowledge she gained at Pacific. It will make her a well-rounded practitioner.

“The big thing Pacific helped with was that they allowed me to do so many different things,” she said. “On your applications, you don’t just want to have really great grades and then nothing else going on. Pacific made it possible for me to do everything that I wanted to do and more.”