There is one true luxury, only achievable with dental care, that many take for granted: straight, white teeth to have the perfect smile. After graduating from Florida State University (FSU), Jaylynn Pierre noticed that the more unfortunate areas struggled, like places in Miami and across the country. With her goals currently on receiving her Doctorate of Dental Medicine, Pierre hopes to bring her career to new heights alongside her family to accomplish something more meaningful.  

Pierre went through multiple medical majors before her heart stuck with going into dentistry. As she only began as a pre-med major, then switching to wanting to become a medical lawyer, Pierre states, “In my last year of college, I decided to [go to] dental school.” Pierre decided that it was the career for her because her mom is a travel nurse and her cousin is in medical school. There have been generations of going into medicine in her family, but she would become the first dentist.

After watching her peers receive their white coats, Pierre understood that no matter the medical major, “It’s hard work, but ultimately, I want to make [profitable wage], and I want to be happy in the end.” 

As of now, Pierre is working in an elementary school, surrounded by kids, which has brought Pierre closer to becoming a pediatric dentist. “I loved pediatrics when I was a pre-med major. I wanted to do pediatric work, so now, I still want to work with children,” describes Pierre, as well as mentioning how she would also enjoy being a general dentist: meaning she would continue her work with kids and adults to help them keep healthy and straight teeth.

Before coming to the United States, Pierre lived in Haiti, her family’s home country. Her family wanted to assist the less fortunate kids and offer affordable healthcare to the families living there and across the country no matter where her future took her. With her family all employed in different branches of medicine, Pierre and her relatives wanted to take their expertise to the next level and construct their own family organization. “We want to open something called a practice, it’s a big office with different areas in it. One would be a pharmacist, another would be a nurse, and another would have a medical doctor. So, everybody does their own thing but under one roof and in one name,” she excitedly exclaims, but despite its lengthy process, it will bring the Pierre family together in the same business since everyone would be chipping in.

Wanting to bring their goal to Haiti to assist their hometown, the Pierre’s plan on returning on mission trips to bring Haiti the assistance they require and make healthcare more known. Pierre mentions her native country as she continues to describe her future plans once becoming a dentist, where they would take “mission trips back home to help those [in their country] and then just make [Medicare] more available.” With Pierre’s entire family wanting to play their part in their medical abilities, her family hopes to bring awareness to this issue and help many in poorer areas acquire affordable Medicare. 

While attending PPCHS, it truly awakened her passion to help others within the medical field. Alongside Pierre’s family, the PPCHS faculty and Flag Football team “taught me how to put the hard work to persevere.” This also taught Pierre to always follow through with her dreams, whether big or small.

When beginning her undergraduate degree, the lessons Charter gave Pierre allowed her to “enter college with an open, but determined, mind.” With such wise lessons from the encouraging staff through 13 years of being a jaguar, it offered her the most encouragement to pursue healthcare and want to bring all the majors into one home and help others around the world. 

Currently, Pierre is making her decision on which dental college she will attend. Considering her college options based on where she wants to continue her life as an adult, with some places being either D.C or Texas, Pierre has many options. With many options at her grasp, and a big dream in mind alongside her family, Pierre continues to go to college to earn her masters, making her one step closer to her organization preparations. Picking up her dental tools, Pierre will continue scraping away at her goals and to earn her master’s in college.