WCPO: When scholarships don't cover dental

A local dentist steps up when a UC international student needs dental care

Each year, UC chooses two international students to receive Global Opportunity scholarships. These scholarships cover the fundamentals such as tuition, housing and meals, but on occasion there are situations where more assistance is needed. 

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UC Global Scholar Zedekia Samara on the UC campus.

This was the case with Zedekia Samaria, who came from Tanzania to study at UC in early 2021, not knowing he would need dental work done.  "Sometimes the pain was unbearable,” Samara said of receiving dental care, free of charge, from Cincinnati dentist Terrence S. Poole, DDS.

"This dental situation was one of those situations where someone stepped up; they didn’t have to," said Christopher Lewis, MD, UC's vice provost of academic programs and director of Village Life Outreach Project, which partnered with UC International Admissions to support two students from Tanzania in 2021.  

Watch the WCPO story

Learn more about The Village Life Project and UC’s Global Opportunity scholarship program.

Featured image at top of dentist office. Photo/Unsplash.

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