It will be an unforgettable few days for Dante Luis Amelotti.
On Sunday, May 17, he will receive a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree during commencement ceremonies at 窪蹋勛圖厙.
And, shortly after that, Amelotti expects to become a commissioned U.S. Army captain before reporting to Fort Benning, Ga., on June 15 to begin a 12-month Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency program.
Ive worked all my life for this moment, said the 32-year-old Argentinian native.
The dual achievement is the result of a circuitous pathone that demanded extremely hard work and perseverance.
My road has been bumpy, he said, but it makes you a better person.
An immigrant from C籀rdoba, Argentina, Amelotti was 13 years old when he first came to the United States to be with his father, who was living in Miami at the time. The teenager attended middle school there until his visa expired four years later, sending him back to his mother in South America. (Shes now a dentist in Spain.)
It was also about that time when he developed a curiosity about medicine and in helping people. But it would be decades before that interest would manifest itself in any tangible way.
There were stops along the way. He returned to the United States and worked for a while as a bank teller in Florida. When his fathers work took him to Ohio, Amelotti followed him north and was preparing to begin studying at Kent State University.
Then 9/11 happened. Instead of enrolling in college, he joined the U.S. Navy.
All I wanted to do was go to Afghanistan and go to war, he said. My educational goals were nonexistent.
While in the Navy, Amelotti became a U.S. citizen in 2003 and later earned associate of arts and bachelor of science degrees from George Washington University. He also received medical training and worked at the Armed Services Blood Bank Center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., as a medical laboratory technician, and at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., as a cytotechnologist.
Amelotti enters the Army after serving a total of 10 years in the Navy as a hospital corpsman. He ended his naval service after being accepted into 窪蹋勛圖厙 School of Dental Medicine. He plans to serve another 10 to 20 years in the military and retire.
But on commencement day, with his parents in the audience, Amelotti will realize an unlikely accomplishment, considering where his story began.
I came from a place that did not give you much, he said. As an immigrant, I am very fortunate.
