Long before Jacksonville University senior Kaylee Joseph was competing on a national stage in shooting sports or preparing for dental school, she was a kid in Carrollton, Ohio, who loved to create. She learned to sew from her grandmother, spent years in Girl Scouts and played doctor with a miniature paramedic “jump bag” her mother made for her.
Healthcare was familiar territory. Both of Joseph’s parents are paramedics, and she grew up watching them help people through some of their hardest moments.
“I grew up wanting to be like the heroes I looked up to, my mom and dad,” Joseph said.
Her path to dentistry would eventually bring together that interest in healthcare with the creativity and precision she had always enjoyed.
Joseph began trap shooting in high school after encouragement from her mother. She was so hesitant to try it that she left her first practice without firing a shot. Her family returned when the range was quieter, and in January 2020, she fired a shotgun for the first time and was hooked.
At JU, Joseph has continued competing while building an equally ambitious academic résumé. At the 2025 Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championship, she was JU’s highest scorer as the team won a national championship. She also finished as the individual national runner-up in singles trap, hitting 198 of 200 targets.
Dentistry clicked for many of the same reasons. While shadowing a dentist during her senior year of high school, Joseph found a field that combined science, hands-on problem-solving, creativity and relationships with patients.
She also found a sense of purpose. After watching her young niece endure severe oral pain because she was afraid to visit the dentist, Joseph became especially interested in helping younger patients feel comfortable receiving care.
“Building that trust early can shape how someone feels about dental care for life,” she said.
Joseph chose JU in part because she could continue competing while pursuing a pathway todental school through the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) Early Acceptance Program. Once on campus, that path began to take on greater definition. She changed her major to cellular and molecular biology, completed a business administration minor and added a chemistry minor. She has also gained valuable experience, serving as a teaching assistant in microbiology labs while conducting orthodontics research with Dr. Sawsan Tabbaa. Along the way, the small classes that first attracted her to JU became something more meaningful: relationships with professors who recognized her potential and helped her prepare for what comes next.
“Kaylee represents so much of what we hope for in a Jacksonville University student,” said Dr. Lisa Sutherland, Interim President. “She has excelled academically, competed at a national level, taken on leadership roles across campus, and remained focused on her career goals. Her early acceptance to LECOM’s School of Dental Medicine in Bradenton is a tremendous accomplishment and reflects the hard work she has put in throughout her time at JU. We are incredibly proud of her and excited to see where this next chapter takes her.”
Joseph will graduate in May 2027 before beginning at LECOM School of Dental Medicine in Bradenton. Her long-term goal is to become an orthodontist and eventually help run or own a practice. She is also open to returning to JU for orthodontic training.
The student who once left the range too nervous to take her first shot now approaches the future with a rule that has become her own: “If I do something, I’m all in.”
