Dr. John Lane

Honors Forum II: October 8, 2012

I must say, so far Dr. John Lane has been my favorite speaker by far in the Honors Forum. I loved his genuine personality, and the fact that he chose to be so open about his personal life with our class. That's hard to find in a speaker, and I feel that from now on I will hold all speakers to this standard.

For starters, Dr. Lane is a Periodontist, which is a dentist that specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of gum disease. Now I must admit, I was skeptical when I heard that our speaker was a dentist. From previous experience in the Honors Forum, I have found that some speakers in the medical field tend to be extremely self-righteous. But when it came to Dr. Lane, I realized that I was completely wrong.

Dr. Lane is not your run of the mill, owns his own practice kind of dentist. He helps run a dental clinic that provides people without insurance with proper dental care for only $10.00. Instead of taking the easy way out, Dr. Lane chooses to help people in need. Talk about civic engagement! This guy is truly impressive.

Despite all of his personal accomplishments, Dr. Lane has also had his fair share of struggles. He shared with us that he had a son that was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and that he had sadly passed away. Ouch. That hit home, hard. However, while Dr. Lane's son was still alive, his family was very involved with the United Cerebral Palsy organization. When his son passed, Dr. Lane and his family also visited The Healing Place (sound familiar?) to figure out how to come to terms with their grief.

To sum it all up, I have so much respect for Dr. Lane it's unreal. He is truly an inspiration for anyone who wants to help out in their community by volunteering their time and talents. I hope that in the future, I can have the same impact on my community as Dr. Lane has had on his.

Always, Kalee