Colin Powell School
How Nini Puello Araujo, CPS Student and U.S. Military Veteran, Is Combining Dentistry and Humanitarianism
Since her family migrated to the US from Venezuela when she was a child, Nini J. Puello Araujo has built a career in service to society both as a U.S. Army veteran and as a rising humanitarian and public health professional. After completing her associate’s degree at Borough of Manhattan Community College, she joined the Army and served overseas for more than five years. One of her final missions was to set up a dental services clinic in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, an experience that ignited her passion for public health and humanitarianism.
“I came back… with my heart in my hands and I knew what I had to do next,” Puello Araujo said.
She enrolled at City College and declared a double major in Biology and Political Science, with her sights set on a career in dentistry and public health. Reflecting on her non-linear career and educational path, she encourages future students to recognize the value in transferable skills gained from diverse experiences.
Please share a little about your background — what’s your story?
I am just like the many people that walk the streets of NYC every day. I am an immigrant, Latina woman of color in search of a good, honest life. My sister and I arrived in NY on December 22, 1998. I will never forget it. My mother was already here waiting for us to arrive after our green cards got approved. We were lucky because President Chavez in Venezuela had just been elected and I feel like we evaded that danger, and for that we’ve always felt lucky. In NY that December, it was so cold, but we were excited.
We moved into Flushing, Queens. I was eight years old and for a while there we moved around quite a bit, but eventually, we settled. My third school became the place I remember the most, PS 107, the greatest little elementary school. I did not know it then, but that was the school that had the biggest impact on my life. I learned I could do anything there, one of those things was play basketball, such an American thing. I grew up, finally got to high school, went to prom, graduated, and went to college. College was definitely something I never dreamed about in the way I think my classmates did, but I always knew it was the next step, because it was so important to my parents. My mother never graduated high school. Instead she went to a technical school and started working young. My father went to one semester of college but never followed through because he had to work to take care of himself. My parents were both from hard-working families with very little. This did not keep them from aiming for more through my sister and me. The disciplinarian at home is my mother. She is the big dreamer. She and my father did the best they could to raise us here in the United States with little English, little education, but a strong work ethic.
College was my only choice because they worked hard to make sure we didn’t have to quit school and work like they had to. My sister also attended CUNY. She went to John Jay College, and I wasn’t sure of how to get where I was going, so I went to BMCC where I could take my time to figure it out. After achieving my Associates Degree from BMCC I took interest in the U.S. Military through the influence of a friend, and one day, during a quick visit with him, I entered a recruitment office, took the ASVAB pre-test and did very well. After one day of just thinking about it, I joined. I left home on March 12, 2013, swore in and was shipped out to Basic Training in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, and later Advanced Training in San Antonio, Texas. From there I was immediately sent overseas to South Korea and then continued on to Bavaria, Germany for the next four and half years. I spent almost five and half years away from the U.S.
I grew a lot in the military. I gained many skills and I reinforced many of the ones I was raised with. I learned how to lead, but most importantly I earned a sense of belonging. My active-duty time was an amazing experience, and I wouldn’t change anything I did. I gained many mentors along the way, including two I still look to for guidance even today, and many buddies whom I remain close with. I also left with more education than I ever thought I would receive, including my Dental Assistant certification and Dental Hygienist certification amongst many others that complement my field of work. For the last 9 months of my contract, I was shipped to San Antonio, Texas which is the medical hub for the U.S. Armed Forces. There I had my most life changing opportunity where I completed a humanitarian mission with Southern Command to Tegucigalpa Honduras with Joint Task Bravo’s DENRETE mission. I came back to the U.S. after those two weeks with my heart in my hands and I knew what I had to do next. When it came time for me to re-up my contract or go into the Reserves, I knew that there was something I needed to do to feel fulfilled and that was to pursue my career goals in dentistry. I decided to enter a new contract with the reserves so I could come back home and go to school without any breaks. I know I will go back on Active Duty soon, but my hopes are to return under a different capacity and serve as a dentist.
Why did you choose CCNY? What brought you to CPS?
I chose CCNY because my best friend and I were supposed to go to school there together and when I decided to go back to school, I couldn’t think of any other place.
As life would have it, I was in a tough place when I first came to CCNY, transitioning out of the military proved to be much more difficult than I thought. So much happened that I did not anticipate in my personal life and in school. In school I started out as a Biology major, Pre-Health on the pre-dental track and I chose CPS only after taking PSC 101 with Prof. DiSalvo. I took the class out of curiosity with open expectations about what I would learn. I think I needed a break from the demanding attention and workload of the sciences, so much that I was seriously contemplating leaving the school, transfering or quitting, but I really enjoyed Prof. DiSalvo’s class and when I approached him with questions he was inviting and positive and patient. I think it was a breath of fresh air to have someone take the time to inform me and then extend an invitation into the major like he did. That was the ounce of kindness I needed to have offered to me that day, I think, because at that point in time, things were hard. I don’t think he even knows it, the huge impact he’s had on my career and in my still being at CCNY and this pursuit of the Political Science degree. When I told one of my mentors from my time on Active Duty that I had taken up the major, he quickly remembered that the Colin Powell School was here at CCNY. I knew I was at the right place, and I had made the right decision.
What is your passion or purpose behind your studies at CCNY?
My passion is in public health and humanitarian services. I’ve been a part of humanitarian efforts with the military, and I learned a lot in the DENRETE mission with JTF-Bravo with Southern Command in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We serviced over 100 children in a matter of maybe 10 days. It was a two-week mission which involved a lot of logistical work from us for the set up and break down. The school we used only supplied the dental exam rooms. Thanks to Regional Health Command Central, the unit I was representing there, we were able to help all those children. That experience really showed me the kind of work I wanted to pursue. And when I decided to take up a second major in the Colin Powell School, I knew the exact route I wanted to take. Coming from a country like Venezuela and seeing how much it has changed in the last two decades, a place where my parents and I left the rest of our family, then going so close to home to help others during a difficult time, tugged at my heartstrings. That was the kind of work I wanted to be involved in. It’s interesting how things work out because that same year, the humanitarian minor became available, and I decided to go into the major and pursue political science and dedicate my time to it. To do work in the intersectionality between dentistry and politics would be a dream. This field of work is super important and highly political.
Where are you at in your career? How has it unfolded? And how has the Colin Powell School helped you along the way?
I am looking for an internship where I can best use the tools I’ve picked up along my journey, but that hasn’t happened yet. For the last few months, I’ve been working part-time in Midtown at a dental clinic where I’ve been keeping my dental assistant skills alive. They say if you don’t use it, you lose it. However, I would like to branch off into an internship at an NGO or a for-profit firm where I can explore or be exposed to the public health sector, maybe one with humanitarian efforts.
At CCNY I am a senior, planning to graduate in the fall. So far, actively, my career is just being a student and leading the Pre-Dental Honorary Society as President. We have a tough job. Getting students to participate and join the club has been challenging. Competing for students’ attention with there being so many amazing clubs in the schools. I think the last club leaders were great and they tried hard to revamp the club, but the pandemic happened, and it made clubs that rely on in-person interaction have to think outside the box and find new ways to reach students, for us that was hard.
Post-graduation I plan on taking the DAT exam, applying to Dental School and if dental school doesn’t come to fruition as quickly as I'd like, then the backup plan is to go for my Master’s in Public Health or MPH as most people call it. Very simple.
Do you have any significant memories or accomplishments from your career or time at City College that you would like to talk about?
Yes, I don’t think anyone could ever forget the pandemic. We weren’t physically here but it was a time of sympathy and a time when we were somehow in it together. That’s the power of NYC I think, all individuals yet sharing the same frame of mind to make it or break it.
Secondly, a great memory has been meeting everyone I have so far through PDHS. The Dental Honorary Society has allowed for us, the e-board members, to share our own experiences and guide certain students, especially the freshmen. We take it so seriously because some of us didn’t have that and I hope more students come and meet us because it’s never too late to change your mind and pursue something you’re scared about because you don’t know how to get there but you just know you want it! It’s something I can relate to so much. And that has truly been what’s kept us so motivated.
Do you have any advice you could give to current or future students?
No journey or route you take in college has to be linear and there isn’t a credit wasted. I’ve recently met a couple of transfer students who felt like because they’re a sophomore and have been on one track for a while that they have to complete it just because they’ve given it their all so far. Well, that’s not necessarily wrong but it isn’t correct either. You can be a multidimensional person, and in the workforce all the skills you bring to the table matter. Just think about why you started in that path to begin with and why now you decided to change, and you’ll realize that the older degree you were pursuing has provided you with a skill that will become necessary in the next one, even if it’s the skill of confidence to speak in front of a room full of people or work in a group setting. These things are not skills everyone possesses and who wouldn’t want to hire an individual who does.
How would you describe CPS in three words?
Caring, Devoted and Diverse.