Musings of an Entrenched 4th Year Veterinary Student

By: Misha Neumann

University of Illinois, Class of 2011

• For me, the 1^st day of a rotation, is the worst. I tend to have the unfortunate luck of staying well after hours and get the emergencies
• Why oh why do I always get the crazies? (both animals and owners)
• It’s really hard to talk to an attractive client face-to-face without sounding like a total idiot
• Why am I required to wear nice professional clothes when I just put a dumpy labcoat over them?
• It never fails that as soon as I hand-bleach the heck out of my labcoat, I get it mucked up, due to no fault of my own
• There isn’t a day that goes by where I almost walk out the door and never look back
• It only takes a sweet animal or an appreciative word to make it all worth it.
• I admit it.  I’ve dance in the Equine wards at 3am with my hoodie up and my iPod blastin’.
• I am very thankful that I am not one of the unlucky souls who have found poop in my pocket.

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Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Internship at the Mote Marine Laboratory

By: Madoka McAllister

Class of 2014, University of Illinois

In January 2010, I had the distinct pleasure of taking part in a marine animal rehabilitation internship at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida.  I had had some previous rehabilitation experience but never with marine animals so it was a very new, exciting opportunity for me.  Although the Rehabilitation Hospital at Mote takes in sea turtles, dolphins and whales, our patients were exclusively sea turtles during my time there.  Having gone into the internship knowing little about sea turtles, I was amazed to discover how intelligent and graceful they are.  Many had distinct personalities and over the duration of my internship, I became very fond of them.  

Florida experienced a sudden cold snap this past winter, with water temperatures dropping 5-8 degrees below average, resulting in the second coldest winter on record in many areas.  Most wildlife and plant life was severely impacted, including thousands of sea turtles that were cold-stunned as a result of the unusual weather.  Cold-stunned turtles are extremely weak and were unable to swim properly, often floating at the ocean's surface or washing up on shore.  I arrived at the Mote just in time to help out with the inflow of cold-stunned sea turtles. 

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Tracking in Vet School (part 3)

By: Dayle Dillon

University of Illinois, Class of 2013

The University of Illinois has implemented a new curriculum that began with the class of 2013.  The most unique aspects of this curriculum are the exposure to clinics from day one, and the absence of traditional “tracking” during the fourth year of schooling.  Of course there will always be naysayers in any given situation but I feel that the new curriculum will prove to be quite successful as it allows for more instruction to take place in a true clinical environment, faced with situations a veterinarian encounters on a day to day basis. 

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My trip to Hoopa

By: Kate Parent

University of Illinois, Class of 2011

Last summer, Kate participated in a RAVS trip where she got some great new experiences, but she also earned herself some cash to help with the costs by applying for the SAVMA Native American Project externship stipend. To learn more about the stipend, visit the committee's site on the SAVMA Website at: http://www.avma.org/noah/members/savma/committees/napinfo.asp

Over spring break during my second year, I decided to live a little and go on a RAVS trip. It was a fabulous experience – during no other week of my life did I sleep so little or learn so much.

            My trip was to serve the Hupa people of the Hoopa Valley Tribe living in northwestern California. According to Hupa tradition, these people have been living in the Hoopa Valley for 4,000 years. Based on my readings before the trip, I hoped to see beautifully twined baskets made by the women, homes built of cedar slabs set on end, and yew bows strengthened with sinew fastened to the back with sturgeon glue. However, I did not get to explore the culture and crafts of the Hupa people during my stay there, mostly due to the duties we had at the RAVS shed that kept us busy from 6 am to 11 or 12 every night, but I did meet some wonderful people that were grateful for the service we were providing for their animals.

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