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Student Spotlight � Kimberly Cooper
When
Kimberly Cooper graduates in a year from the University of
Houston, she hopes to land a marketing job.
That would be a far cry from the chores and FFA activities she
did growing up on a farm. It�s also completely different than
the dental assistant work she did for a few years after
graduating from high school.
Cooper is a public relations/communications major who is working
as a student worker for UH Dining. As such, she helps market
meal plans to students and staff, and can often be found
representing UH Dining at various events across campus. It�s a
job she has held since August.
�I stand out there by tables engaging with students about
different meal options, different plans, ways to save money,�
she said.
She also works as a student worker for Human Resources. This
semester, she also will do a student manager internship for UH
Dining, which is operated by ARAMARK.
Several years ago, before she enrolled at UH, she worked as a
dental assistant.
�I loved it. And I still do. I still hold my certification, even
though I am not actually doing it full-time right now,� Cooper
said.
Eventually, she realized she wanted to pursue a different
career. That�s when she applied for and was accepted into UH.
But, she still does dental assistant work from time to time on
the weekend through a company called Onsite Healthcare. The
company provides dental care to troops and National Guardsmen
who are about to be deployed overseas.
�The system is just so full that they don�t have enough
facilities to get these guys checked out,� she said. �If they
have a tooth that is fractured, in 12 months that might be a
problem. They may get an abscess. So, we take care of that
before they get deployed.�
This past April, Cooper and a group of people from a
non-denominational missionary group called Serving Him
Ministries went to Guatemala for a week. There, they did needed
dental work for the residents, and also installed stoves and
handed out food packs.
Cooper lives about four hours from her family�s home in Killeen,
which is about 40 minutes away from the farm where she grew up
in the tiny community of Zabcikville in Bell County.
�I still miss my mom and dad every now and then,� she said.
Although she enjoyed helping her dad with farm work and all the
animals, including goats, sheep, cows and pigs, she realized
that wasn�t her calling in life.
What�s her dream job? She wouldn�t mind doing some sort of
marketing work in the dentistry field, or eventually landing a
position with Apple.
Cooper said she appreciates the cultural diversity that UH has
to offer, having attended a high school that had a student
population that was overwhelmingly white.
�When you are in a big diverse campus like this, you are more
appreciative of other cultures. And so for me, I think it will
give me a better understanding of the world,� she said.
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