Slashcheva emigrated from Kazakhstan to the United States with her family at age 5. She started kindergarten in Harrisonburg, Va., with no knowledge of English. Thanks to an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher, though, she got off to a good start.

“The ESL teacher engaged in my siblings’ and my lives well beyond the classroom,” Slashcheva says, “equipping us with the skills and motivation to succeed and excel in academics even as immigrant children.”

Ten years later Slashcheva was the valedictorian of her graduating class at Turner Ashby High School. At age 16? Yes, she had just finished her sophomore year, but she had acquired two years’ worth of credits by taking classes on the side at Blue Ridge Community College.

That fall of 2009 she planned to follow her older sister who had earned a at ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř. “Nursing seemed like an attainable goal for an immigrant child,” she says, “and I was fascinated with science and passionate about serving others.”

But two weeks before starting college, Slashcheva went to a dentist’s office with her father to interpret for him. Dr. Dave Kenee was impressed with her and challenged her to consider a career in dentistry. Within a few weeks, she was shadowing Kenee at his practice and had transitioned into a at EMU.

Slashcheva was in a hurry to get started in her life’s work. It took her only 2½ years to get through EMU, by taking summer classes and applying previous college credits from Blue Ridge. And she was already building her résumé. While at EMU she worked in the university’s , volunteered at , and traveled to Lithuania for three months as part of .

She found time to continue her interest in music by playing flute in and directing the choir at her church, .

Slashcheva looked for a dental school that shared EMU’s emphasis on service. She won a competitive scholarship to dental school from the federal government’s , which pays her entire tuition bill as well as a monthly stipend. She chose Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

So how did Slashcheva spend her time between graduating from EMU in December 2011 and entering VCU in August 2012? Take a break and leisurely prepare for dental school? No, she went on a four-month mission trip under the . She worked in dentistry and oral health in Honduras and Peru. “That developed my fascination for public health,” she says.

At age 19, Slashcheva entered the VCU School of Dentistry, plunging into her studies as well as student clubs and professional organizations. Her growing résumé now includes president of and nearby Medical College of Virginia (now with over 300 student members), director of tEEEth talk Community Education Workshops, founder/president of Special Care Interest Group, student leader of Christian Medical and Dental Association, and graduate teaching assistant for undergraduate students who are about her age.

Some of Slashcheva’s professors question why she is so involved in service programs at a time when she should be focusing on her professional development as a dentist. “But I want to be a Christian who happens to be a dentist—and not the other way around,” she says. “I learned that at EMU.” She also learned to integrate faith and science.

Slashcheva is active at , where she is the music coordinator and a delegate to .

What’s next for the future Slashcheva when she graduates from VCU in 2016? “As a National Health Service Corps dental scholar, I have committed to practicing dentistry in an underserved area for four years at the start of my career,” she says. The commitment can be deferred, however, if she wants to seek specialty training. At this point she is thinking about post-graduate study in dental public health and geriatric dentistry.

A long résumé is not Slashcheva’s goal. But she is determined to surpass boundaries that were considered insurmountable. And she is driven to pursue a life of service that comes from her Christian family upbringing in a disadvantaged immigrant community.

“Early in my immigrant life, I realized that I may never completely assimilate into my surroundings,” says Slashcheva. “So I found it necessary to choose between being inferior or being extraordinary among my peers.”

Dubina, who has studied part-time since 2011 in , laughs ruefully as she gropes for words to explain the personal feeling behind her chosen setting of flowers and springtime. It has to do with the campus signifying hope and new options in her life. She arrived four years ago from her home at Brest, in Belarus.

The oil painting, unveiled in June, portrays Swartzendruber’s face as recognizably as any photograph. Yet perhaps inspired by a favorite artist she names – Ilya Yefimovich Repin (1844-1930) – Dubina’s seemingly lifelike works incorporate personal selection and creativity.

Getting to know Swartzendruber during the portrait process, Dubina found him down-to-earth and unassuming: “He is very polite; very happy. I felt very comfortable with him.” In portraiture, she considers it most helpful “to see the real person.” It also helped that Swartzendruber supplied her with numerous photographs – aids, she feels, to acquiring a sense of a subject’s personality.

She has worked without such help. In 2007, Dubina created a commissioned portrait gallery of the 12 presidents of Brest State University (founded in 1945), where she had received undergraduate and masters’ degrees and taught art. To depict one early administrator, she had to work from only a “tiny little black and white photograph.”

Dubina’s current portfolio includes floral still lifes, Belarussian and Shenandoah Valley landscapes, portraits of family, friends and historic figures, and a self-portrait in elegant 18th Century dress.

In 2009, after winning a U.S. Green Card Lottery (i.e., a Diversity Immigrant Visa), Dubina came to live with her sister in Harrisonburg near their brother and his children – a move undertaken “to help my parents [living in Brest]. They are getting old.” She shares earnings with them from her food-services job at James Madison University, telephones them daily, and returned to Belarus to visit them this summer.

“When I came to America I didn’t have a dream,” she says. Yet recently she began to dream again of a future full of creativity, having received a written evaluation of her Brest education, certifying that she holds the equivalent of a master’s degree.

Now, she says, “I just need English.”

Four years ago, Dubina knew no English – she was embarrassed to be asked “How are you?” and be unable to answer. She was, however, fluent in Russian and Belarussian (her country’s official languages), plus Ukrainian, and knew some Polish and German. She came to EMU because friends said “this is the best place for learning English.” IEP draws students from around the world, mostly seeking educational or career advancement.

Dubina teaches art to children and adults at her church, near Bridgewater. Comparing American education with that in her homeland, she says “I am interested in seeing how the schools are different.”

The Swartzendruber portrait hangs in the President’s Room on the 3rd floor of , available for viewing except for times when the room is being used for classes or meetings.

If anyone values opportunity, it’s Lyubov Slashcheva. As a at ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř (EMU), taking the Dental Admission Test (DAT) is one of her priorities. Her free moments are spent engrossed in a DAT study guide.

A Russian interpreter for the (HRFC), Slashcheva does not waste a moment. Five schools, including the University of Baltimore, West Virginia University, University of North Carolina, University of Pittsburgh and Virginia Commonwealth University have already received her dental school application. When asked why Virginia Commonwealth appeals to her, the frequenter of the EMU Dean’s List expounded upon her overall campus visit impression. At the school, she said, service is emphasized and envisions that serving others will equip her well for dentistry. In-state tuition and proximity to home also helps, she added.

After she dons EMU’s royal blue gown this December, the visionary plans to travel. She will spend four months in Gracias, Honduras and Mayobamba, Peru with the , serving in two dental clinics. The Luke Society will support her as she educates communities about preventive medicine, stimulates community development and builds community missions with a local pastor. Slashcheva will do this all so local individuals can care for themselves.

With over three years of Spanish under her belt, Slashcheva is slightly nervous for the time away but is optimistic it will be an opportunity for growth. This experience, the forward-thinker hopes, will give hands-on dental experience and a picture of rural dentistry abroad.

Family-rooted worker

In addition to being a highly disciplined student, Slashcheva values her family and church community. When she is not arduously studying for the next exam, serving others or spending time in extra-curricular activities, the youngest of three children relaxes at home with her parents.

She donates her time to the HRFC and other dental clinics in the area while working two jobs. Additionally, Dr. David Kenee, Dr. Steven Gardener and Dr. Stacie Dietz, all in the dentistry field, receive Slashcheva’s helping hands. She also tutors struggling students in organic chemistry and biology and works at .

At her home congregation of First Russian Baptist, Slashcheva co-directs a choir that meets three times a week and attends a weekly youth prayer meeting. “I like a strict schedule,” said Slashcheva who also plays flute in the church band.

After pondering how she spends her free time Slashcheva said she can’t live with free time. “After I graduate, maybe I’ll learn how.”

Slashcheva cherishes the common ground built at the HRFC between medical professionals, clients and volunteers. Others, she hopes, “would value the opportunity that the HRFC presents to do a job willingly while belonging to the larger effort.”