Right on Target

Dr. Nick Rauber, founder of the clay shoot event, with Dean Henry Gremillion

The 2011 Clay Pigeon Shoot, a student-initiated fundraising event to benefit outreach and the Student Government Association, raised more than $7,000. The clay shoot, now in its fifth year, has generated almost $30,000. This year's event, held on Saturday, February 12, attracted 132 shooters organized into 33 competing teams. The first-place winner was Taylor Bassett, scoring 42 hits out of 50 tries.

Most of the money that is raised each year supports student volunteers who work closely with teams of faculty and staff at community outreach events. Since 2010, more than 1,900 children and adults have been helped through outreach events involving dental students, dental hygiene students, members of the faculty, and dentists in the community. Those who received help include children, their parents, abused teenagers, AIDS patients, adults with disabilities, and the working poor.

"Service to the community is a core value of the dental school," said Dr. Henry Gremillion. "Our students have been extraordinarily proactive in serving the community. The clay shoot is but one example of how our students take the initiative to serve others."

The fundraising event was started by Dr. Nick Rauber, a 2007 graduate, when he was a dental student and president of the Student Government Association. Now a general dentist in Baton Rouge, Dr. Rauber gives generously to the dental school and continues to play a leading role in fundraising. During his student years, he also started a community outreach program at Magnolia School, a residential facility in New Orleans for adults with disabilities. Each year dental hygiene students go to the school to screen this special-needs population.

Adam Quartano and Erica Hender, who are both dental students, with Dr. Joey Lacoste and his wife Gwen. Dr. Lacoste is a longtime sponsor of the event.

The main sponsor of the event was Campus Federal Credit Union, which underwrites many events throughout the year to benefit the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the LSU System. "We take joy in the accomplishments of LSU," said John Milazzo, president. "Working with the dental school is a lot of fun and we hope that what we do brings excitement. Ultimately it's always about people helping people." Campus Federal was founded by two professors at LSU in 1934, at the height of the Great Depression. Their vision was to provide banking services to the LSU community when banks throughout the country were closing.

In addition to Campus Federal, the event sponsors were Wherehouse Bar & Grill, Aesthetic Dentistry Group (Drs. Nick Rauber and Dan Bankhead), Louisiana Dental Center, Searcy Orthodontics, Delta Dental Insurance Company, Flanagan Instruments, LAMMICO, Patterson Dental Supply, P&G Professional Oral Health: Crest Oral-B, Medical Protective Corporation, A-Dec, Brasseler, Louisiana Dental Association, Henry Schein Dental, Robert Ellis and Associates, The Receivables Exchange, and GenPro LLC Generator Services, as well as Drs. Toby Moffatt, Benjamin Bumgardner, Mark Chaney, and Raymond J. Unland.