When contemplating his future career choices as a student at ACG Strathallan, Vincent Withers knew that he wanted to be employed in a field that involved how the world worked. “I was fascinated by how we function and exist,” he says.
Now in his third year of a Bachelor of Dental Surgery at the University of Otago, he is on the way to achieving his goal. But it hasn’t been an easy journey.
Graduating from Strathallan in 2019 with A and AS levels in Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Classics and English Literature, Vincent regarded the University of Otago as offering the best range of courses for his interests so enrolled in Health Science with a view to studying medicine or dentistry. However, in the second semester of his first year, Vincent sustained a serious head injury while playing a game of rugby.
“I was out for over a month,” he says. “I had huge memory issues and forgot my whole personality.”
Remarkably, he still managed to pass his first year of health science, but the injury forced a career re-think and he embarked on a Bachelor of Science in Physiology instead.
Vincent acknowledges that the change was not easy. “It was a forced change which was the worst as I was en route to get into med and dent. But it did force me to gain a better understanding of human biomedical sciences.”
After graduating, Vincent knew he needed time to “chill”, so went on to complete a Post-graduate Diploma in Digital Health in order to “figure out what my next life steps were.” He soon discovered those next steps would be a return to his original path of medicine and dentistry. Offered places in both, he chose dentistry.
“I think without doing my under-grad and post-grad I would probably not have found that path,” he reflects. “And so I just let the journey write itself.”
A journey may write itself, but it helps to have supportive structures in place throughout that journey, and Vincent credits his parents as playing an integral role in helping him navigate a path through his challenges. “My parents were my number one supporters from day one and taught me that I can do anything,” he says. Vincent also found motivation from those that doubted him: “It kept pushing me to prove them wrong.”
But perhaps his greatest driving force has been his own self-belief and determination. “University can be a very lonely place at points so you need to become your number one supporter.” It’s a powerful mindset, and one that has enabled Vincent to learn, adapt and grow. “If you push yourself you can achieve,” he says.
Vincent continues to push himself, and whilst he acknowledges that dentistry is “difficult”, he enjoys giving care to his patients and being “surrounded by a new close family of like-minded peers - students and professors alike.”
And he is achieving success. Vincent has recently returned from China where he represented the Faculty of Dentistry, and New Zealand, at the 2025 Symposium and University Immersion Programme at the West China University of Stomatology in Chengdu, one of only 46 students worldwide to attend.
By the time Vincent graduates in 2027 he will have been studying for eight years so he’s looking forward to joining a practice and working for a few years. Beyond that, “I do have plans to branch into new digital fields of dentistry and do some larger scale business. Anything and everything can change in an instant but I hope I end up doing something cool and beneficial for our society, and achieve something that I am proud of.”
Vincent already has so much to be proud of. He has the self-belief to know he is capable of achieving a goal and the determination to make that goal a reality, qualities that will ensure success in any aspect of life.
And he’s happy to share what he’s learned with others who may be struggling with subject choices or life choices right now: “If you have a dream and are committed to it you will achieve. Just strive to be the best at what you do, whatever it is, and the rest will come.”
