About Me

I am a 41 year-old Freshman Dental Student at Georgia Health Sciences University.  More importantly, I am a husband, father, brother and son to a wonderful family that I absolutely adore.  I was raised in a small South Georgia town affectionately known to many as The Land of Milk and Honey (you probably have read about it in the Bible).  Some simply call it Hazlehurst, Georgia.  I love where I am from and feel blessed to have grown up in an area where you know everyone and/or are related to them!! I truly believe that the eccentric and colorful characters that have flavored my life can only be found in Southern Literature or small Southern towns.  I have had TWO College careers and have enjoyed both in their own ways.  My first trip through the realms of academia I majored in English and spent time at Mercer University and then at The University of Georgia where I graduated not summa cum laude but Thank the Lawdy!  I then had to grow up.  I use that phrase loosely because I ask you . . . Can Peter Pan ever truly grow up?  I have worked in sales (lumber, pallets, mulch, coffee, cabinets, etc.) and have been relatively successful doing so.  I have owned my own businesses the most recent of which was a cabinet shop that I founded with my Brother.  This is where my journey took a sharp left!  On October 31, 2009 the cabinet shop burned and my life was sent spinning and skidding into a completely new direction.  The fire was a complete and total loss.  My brother (Brian) and I lost almost everything.  I say almost because although I lost all of my material wealth I still had the most important things . . . My Faith, my health, my family, and the grit that was instilled in me by my parents.  Material things will come and go but these things . . . these most often under-appreciated things . . . are worth more than gold.  It was at this point that my Second College Career began!  Brian and I decided that instead of a tragedy that this fire was actually a blessing.  It is not often that you get the opportunity to change directions in life and try a new path.  A path that had at one point in your life been unobtainable.  We decided that we were going to become Dentists!  We did not reach this decision without a tremendous amount of research and soul searching.  I truly believe that God has a plan for you and if you will just get out of the way he will lead you to where he wants you to be.  This has been proven time and time again during my life but especially so during this time in my life.  We went and spoke with the Dean of Admissions at the Dental School.  This little pixie of a lady with a warm smile was named Dr. Carol Hanes.  She listened to our story and looked at our grades (which were not very good!) and then gave us our next challenge.  She said, "Guys you definitely have an uphill battle but what you need to do is go back and take all of our pre-requisites and make straight A's.  If you make a B you need to go back to building cabinets!"  We drove back home and we made a pact that we would do whatever it took but that we were NOT going back to building cabinets.  We registered at South Georgia College in Douglas, Georgia and we never made another B.  I will never forget the look on the Registrar Office personnel's face when we blasted in there and registered for all of these classes and told them we were going to become Dentists . . . Priceless!!  I want to say right now that the people at that small college were so instrumental in our success.  They truly cared about our goals and our education.  They were willing to put in whatever time that we needed so that we could go to the next level prepared.  I will always be in their debt.  We took the DAT and applied to Dental School with absolutely NO hope that we stood a chance on our first attempt!  You can't imagine our surprise when we were invited to interview!!  Out of 300-400 applications they only interviewed 172 for only 80 spots.  I will never forget where I was when I found out that I had been accepted.  My wife (Angie) and I were in a Hallmark gift shop in Macon, Georgia buying Christmas when my phone rang.  I saw it was an Augusta number and thought it was one of my buddies calling to give me an update and/or encouragement.  Imagine my surprise when the voice said "Ken this is Dr. Hanes."  I asked her did I need to sit down and she said yes.  I thought "Oh no I didn't make it."  She then said, "You may want to sit down so that you can jump back up because you have been accepted!!"  I vaguely remember opening the door to the shop and screaming to Angie that we were in!  I am sure that I scared the bejesus out of all the shoppers but THAT was not on my mind!  I then asked her "I know you can't probably tell me but did my Brother make it?"  She said, "I can't tell you that but don't call him because he is my next call!"  I believe that this may have been one of the happiest days of my life and that's saying something!!  Our tour of Universities continued to the sleepy little city of Statesboro, Georgia where we attended Georgia Southern the home of the Eagles.  We had one semester there where we were introduced to Genetics, Micro-Anatomy, and most importantly to Biochemistry!!  All of this has led to here . . . Augusta, Georgia . . . home of the Georgia Health Sciences University.  101 days into this process and all I can say is . . . Wow.  I am blessed.