Dr. William Chen
FLA class of ‘92 alumni, Dr. William Chen, knew early on that he wanted to pursue professional school. Now almost 30 years later, he’s an established business owner and CEO of his company, Chen Dental.
Despite knowing that he wanted to go into professional schooling, Dr. Chen wasn’t initially anticipating attending dental school. His original thought was to attend medical school after graduating from Rollins College (1996) with a BA in Biology. However, he showed promise and found a passion for dentistry, and completed his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Florida College of Dentistry in 2001.
“When you’re young, do you really know what you want to do for the rest of your life? I know I didn’t,” says Dr. Chen.
In his opinion, you have to gain life skills and experiences in order to discover who you are and what you want to be. Whether that be through extracurriculars, classes, work or sports.
Dr. Chen shares, “You’re not going to learn life experiences in school alone, whether it’s Adventist school or not.”
He believes working and stepping outside of your comfort zone is how you learn. He shared that while he was attending FLA, he worked at Taco Bell and quickly realized that he wasn’t a fan of fast food. Dr. Chen pursued a job the next year working for the dean instead. While his initial work experience wasn’t what he wanted to do, it was helpful in realizing what he liked and disliked.
Dr. Chen advises working, interning, or volunteering in different areas to find out what you like. Additionally, he encourages striving for good grades, not because they are the most important, but because he believes that they pave the way for good opportunities in the future.
“You don’t have to have these things, but it definitely helps give you options when you’re older,” Dr. Chen says. “Education is important, grades are important. But not getting good grades doesn’t mean you can’t do something. You need to try your best, get the grade that you can get, and focus on future opportunities. Always plan ahead.”
Looking back at his time spent in Adventist education, the aspect Dr. Chen is most fond of is the relationships he has created and maintained since he was a student.
“The friendships and families you grow up around in the Adventist education world are lifelong connections,” he states. “You can go away for eight years and come back and it’s just like it was yesterday.”
Dr. Chen attended school at some point in his Adventist education years with a lot of his current employees. In his opinion, the one thing that Adventist education has over other forms of education is the lasting relationships.
“You can go back and look at how the Adventist school system has been so integral in those long lasting relationships,” reflects Dr. Chen. “I definitely think that’s their strong point.”
He stresses how important it is to socialize your children in this way, allowing them to be positively influenced by lifelong relationships.
Dr. Chen hopes that this next school year will provide an environment where students can connect in person again instead of just through social media and online school.
With an impressive dentistry career in which he has been voted “Best Dentist” nine times, received multiple Business of the Year awards, and has gained the Innovation and Leadership Award, Dr. Chen has a lot to be proud of. Currently, he practices dentistry on a limited basis but is now focusing his efforts more on the administrative side of his business and his family. He enjoys spending time outdoors and continues to make lifetime memories with his three sons and wife of 21 years, Geri. Dr. Chen is an inspiring example of what Christians should strive to follow, building meaningful relationships, passionately putting to use God’s many gifts and all the while continuing to seek out Christ in all we do.
