Alumnus Finds Success as a Dental Hygienist

Nearly 15 years after leaving his increasingly dangerous hometown in Coalcomán, Michoacán, Mexico, Carlos Valdovinos is living his best life in Kirkland, Washington.

The 24-year-old, who earned a bachelor’s degree from EWU in 2022, has already established an ideal work-life balance as a dental hygienist working for Sammamish Family Dental.

“I feel like I have a really good life at work,” he says. “I also get to travel and spend time outdoors, which is what I like. And all that, I think, is thanks to the university and everyone that supported me.”

With fluency in both English and Spanish, this Eastern alumnus easily converses with Spanish-speaking clients and can interpret for the dentist when needed. His compassionate approach to care is a hit with clients of all ages, who request him as their hygienist.

“I feel like a lot of people want to be with me because I always focus on having the patient comfortable in the chair,” he says.

Valdovinos developed many of his skills through applied learning as a student clinician at EWU’s nonprofit Dental Hygiene Clinic. The clinic provides oral-health care for patients, including many who are low-income and uninsured, while giving future hygienists experience in their field.

While working at the EWU clinic, Valdovinos says, he learned how to “read” patients and provide a unique treatment for each, and that this skill set helped him hit the ground running as a working hygienist. “Right off the bat, I felt comfortable treating the patients because of everything I learned at Eastern.”

Valdovinos’ path to EWU wasn’t straightforward. During high school, his sister, Angeles, encouraged him to enroll in the Yakima Valley Technical Skills Center to earn a certificate in dental assisting. He soon realized that working as an assistant was the wrong job in the right profession.

“As soon as I saw what a dental hygienist does, and how big of an impact I could bring to a diverse patient population, I just fell in love with hygiene,” he said during an Eastern magazine interview back in 2022.

Valdovinos toured EWU and learned about the Department of Dental Hygiene. He liked the environment, diversity and overall positivity of the university — and Eastern’s admissions team connected him with door-opening scholarship support.

“I would have never been able to get my education if it had not been for the donors who helped me financially,” a grateful Valdovinos said at the time.

Eastern proved to be the perfect choice for the first-generation student, who had previously persevered through tough times.

Valdovinos immigrated to the United States at age 11, after his parents sent him to live with his older sister in Yakima. They made this heart-rending decision because cartel-instigated corruption, shakedowns, kidnappings and murders were becoming disturbingly common in his beautiful hometown.

“There was just violence all around us,” says Valdovinos, who recalls routinely seeing trucks loaded with men and guns coming down the road. His community, meanwhile, started experiencing multiple funerals for reasons people were afraid to talk about.

Throughout his four years at Eastern, news from home relayed the deaths and disappearances of friends and family members. He says he often felt like returning to Mexico to help.

Valdovinos credits Professor Lisa Bilich, and other dental hygiene faculty and staff, with helping him overcome such hardships to stay on track for graduation. He not only became the first in his family to earn a degree, but also inspired his younger sister to pursue her own path to college.

During an interview before Valdovinos’ graduation, Bilich said she was impressed with him from the beginning. As an English as a second language student, she said, he worked twice as hard as other students to master test-taking, while providing unwavering support for patients at the EWU clinic.

“He treats them with kindness and respect — every patient he has,” Bilich said, noting that he exemplified the importance of EWU’s holistic admissions.

While attending EWU, Valdovinos became friends with another dental hygiene student, Enrique Terán ’22. After graduating, the newly minted alumni moved to the Seattle-area to share housing expenses and get a jump-start on their careers. Terán is experiencing his own success doing hygiene and restorative work for a general dentistry clinic in Kirkland.

As a thriving professional, Valdovinos has earned certifications in laser treatment and saliva testing while temping on some of his days off at other clinics, where he practices restorative work. Eastern’s promise of opportunity was life-changing for him.

“I’m super happy that I chose dental hygiene at Eastern as a career path and university, because it was the perfect set to my career,” he says. “It allowed me to explore the career I wanted and be prepared for it.”

Visit ewu.edu/buildourfuture to learn how you can join us in building a future for hardworking students at Eastern.