Memphis Zoo

Honorable Mention, Creative Corner
Tiffany Beck, Mississippi State

Sarah and Nate

Honorable Mention, Creative Corner
Tiffany Beck, Mississippi State

 

On voting

Winner, Life as a Vet Student
Tiffany Beck, Mississippi State University

American and Traitor.  These are not two words commonly employed in the same breath in this country. Yet over 236 years ago, this allegation became a harsh reality for 56 Americans with a mere brush of the pen.  By signing the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, a company of highly esteemed and well-educated citizens pledged “[their] Lives, [their] Fortunes, and [their] sacred Honor”¹ for the establishment of an independent, separate Nation.  Their promises to this freshly conceived country were not empty.  Nine of the 56 signers died during the American Revolution and never tasted national freedom.  The British captured and tortured five signers, and the homes and lands of many more (17) were ransacked and burned.  But how does this dabbling in colonial history relate to deciding on a candidate for the Office of the President of the United States nearly 250 years later? 

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Parking and…Penguins?

Entry, Foot in Mouth Disease

Jason Collins, Mississippi State '13

A classmate of mine shared with me a metaphor that someone else told her; information that we learn while in vet school is like a penguin. Our brain is like an iceberg that can only hold so many penguins. As we switch between departments in clinics and are called upon to recall bits of information we learned 2, 3, or 6 months prior in unrelated departments, we realize that our iceberg has become overcrowded and we’ve “lost” some penguins. I remember knowing that information 6 weeks ago for a test but now I am loaded down with a ton of new information for the upcoming test! 

I usually feel like my capacity for memory is smaller than that of my classmates. I am not the only one, however, that has had to park their car in the same space every day for months out of fear of not remembering where they parked at the end of the day. This was particularly the case in the classroom phase of our curriculum, when I went to the same region of the building day in and day out. In clinics, however, when I arrive/leave and where I need to be changes pretty frequently, so I no longer felt the need to park in a specific space. I did, however, continue the practice of parking in the same lot.  

At the end of a recent busy day in clinics, I exited the building and, to my surprise, learned that it was raining.  It was not a downpour, but it was a steady blanket of rain. I walked quickly toward the parking lot where I anticipated my car being parked (1) and as soon as I reached the edge of the parking lot, without so much as looking up, I turned around and walked as quickly as possible back into the building. I had just remembered something important; I had parked my car on the other side of the complex that morning! A classmate of mine told me that I could park closer to the building if I parked on the opposite side from where my usual spot was, because most of the underclassmen were not back from Christmas break yet. I was only partially soaked when I re-entered the building and I proceeded to exit the building on the opposite side and walked very briskly to the location where I had parked my car that morning (2.) I could picture the exact parking space my car occupied. Unfortunately, when I arrived there, another car was in its place! My car was nowhere to be seen. Immediately I recalled that I had had a long lunch break that day and I had driven to my house for something. When I returned to the school, out of habit, I parked in my usual spot on the other side of the building! As I jogged back toward the building, I angrily thought about how completely drenched I was and I hoped no one noticed my pointless journey into that parking lot. Now that it did not matter how long I spent searching for my car in the rain, because I was soaked through anyway, I immediately spotted my car upon exiting the building on the other side (3. )

To this day, I blame this on the penguins for abandoning ship in my time of need. I also blame vet school for giving me so many dang penguins! 

You took pictures of WHAT?

Honorable Mention, Foot in Mouth Category
Courtney Deer, Mississippi State

Like most former sorority girls my camera never leaves my purse. I'm known for being the paparazzi at any and all events - the best and worst of times. My camera has also been instrumental in my veterinary learning experience. During anatomy I've always snapped pictures and made videos to include in my study guides. This summer I found out that I should probably have two separate flash drives for social life and school.

A few of my sisters and I went out to Happy Hour once we all returned home for summer break. We chatted away, snapped some pictures and swapped stories. One of my sisters asked to see my camera so she could look at what kind of fun things I'd done in veterinary school. She's one of my closest friends, but she'd been out of the country for the better part of the last year so we'd been unable to talk as much as we usually do. She flipped through the pictures, laughing at some of them, and then paused. Her face changed from a smile to a frown. She tilted the camera, gasped and threw it on the table. "PLEASE TELL ME THAT'S NOT WHAT I THINK IT IS!" I picked up the camera to look at the offending picture and immediately burst into laughter. The picture was of the genitals of a male horse, spread out over a table, with a probe pointing to various anatomical features. She knew it was my hand because of my usual manicure, which could be seen through the white latex gloves.

Another sister at the table quickly snatched the camera to see what the picture was. Before too long the entire table of my friends had seen it and were sharing in either laughter or disgust. Once I regained my composure I had to explain that as a veterinarian we have to know EVERYTHING about EVERY animal - even their unmentionables. They made me swear to get a new flash drive specifically for school, which is probably a good investment. In the wrong hands that picture would be impossible to explain!