María Ydalia Rodríguez Estrella

By
In Where Are They Now?
5

*One of our alumna reached out to us, and wanted to share her story in her own words. The following is translated into english.*

Hello my name is María Ydalia Rodríguez Estrella.

I belonged to the second graduating class of the Cigar Family School in 2010. When I finished school, I continued attending the Cigar Family Center to observe the work of the dentists there, since dentistry was my passion.

After approximately six months observing at the center, Professor Alejandro Martínez helped me obtain a scholarship from the Lafabril Foundation to study dentistry at Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). Without this scholarship it would not have been possible to start this career, because I did not have the financial resources. Having to go live in Santiago to study at the PUCMM for my dentistry career was something great for me. It was there when my long journey began.  

Since the beginning, Cigar Family never turned their back on me. I was two years into University program in Santiago when I got sick. They had to operate on me in an emergency. The situation was tough and I lost my scholarship. I had to return to Bonao. Cigar Family never abandoned me. They helped me to carry out the procedures to move from the University of Santiago to La Vega. The change was a bit traumatic for me because in the end they did not accept my school credits and I had to start from scratch. Despite everything, I had the desire to get ahead and did my best, always receiving financial aid from the Cigar Family School.

I attended 5 years at the Ucateci University, culminating my career successfully with a lot of effort and sacrifice.

I got married and went to live in the capital. I got a job with the DRA and did an internship at the University for a year in the capital and then I decided to send a resume to my sweet home, Cigar Family.  Not a month passed before I was already being called for a job interview and I am currently pursuing my career as doctor in dentistry at the Cigar Family Dental Clinic.

I am very grateful to the Foundation for giving me these opportunities. I am very happy because I am offering my services to loved ones and people from my community.

I want to tell each one of the people who donate to the Foundation that help from them is a great blessing, because more than an economic aid, it is the basis to fulfill a dream to become a trained student, and professional, eager to provide a service to all the communities surrounding our Cigar Family Center

Thanks very much!!!