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Hey Future Vets, Sophia here.
I hope that all of you are enjoying your summer break! Although many of us have to work long hours or are gaining vet/animal experience, I hope that you all find some time to rest and recover from another busy school year. In this month’s article, we will be continuing the FVC’s Time Capsule series, this time interviewing our Website and Marketing Team. Moving forward, we will be changing this title to the “Website and Social Media Team”, starting in the 2025-26 school year. Ronit and Sahari are the faces behind FVC’s website and social media pages; they are constantly coming up with new ideas to keep our members (you!) engaged and aware of any upcoming events or opportunities. Our new and improved website would not be possible without their determination and creativity. Read on to learn more about them and the insight they have gained by being a part of the FVC executive team this year! Hey Future Vets!
Just like that, the school year is over. This year was extra special for me because it was my very last. That’s right - I’m graduating! Putting aside the feeling that first years are reading this and thinking I’m old, I’d love nothing more than to share what wisdom and advice I can in my very last (!!!) Omnis blog post. I find myself sitting in my empty bedroom in my apartment writing this, knowing that I'll be moving out tomorrow, and the feeling is so bittersweet. Your undergraduate experience will be one that you’ll never forget. The friends you make, the things you learn… I hope that you can remember to appreciate them as they happen, and not just once it’s all said and done the night before you move out. Live in the moment and enjoy it. I know, university isn’t all sunshine and rainbows — it’s hard work, too. But that means that you should congratulate yourself every time you strive to do well, and take part in things you love to break up the days. For me, that was the FVC. Hey future vets! Emily here.
If you haven’t yet gotten acquainted with our new and improved website, take a moment to look around! This transition has been such a labour of love for us and we are excited to keep offering the best of the best. With that said, we are officially in the Winter semester and things are changing. Whether you’re moving up a year or even graduating like I am, we want you to know that the Future Vets Club will be here to support you. I decided I wanted to do something a little extra special to commemorate the club along with the new website - a brand new series that lets us appreciate our past while looking forward to the future. I present to you… The FVC Time Capsule! My hope is that in a series of articles, I can introduce you to the people who make FVC what it is. Going role-by-role, each of the executives will answer time capsule-style questions that can be looked back on in future years. What executive role would be more appropriate to begin with than the Co-Presidents? Emily Cheung and Sara Terier are our devoted leaders, and they work their absolute hardest to keep the FVC running and continuing to put on wonderful events. I hope that from reading their time capsule questions, you come to love them just as much as we do. Without further ado, read on! Hey Future Vets!
If you are anything like me, you may have wondered what it would be like to work in the field of wildlife veterinary medicine. This article shines the spotlight on Dr. Jacky La Grange-Monsert, a real-life superhero for wildlife! As a wildlife veterinarian located in Zimbabwe, she works with a wide array of African animals, including giraffes, elephants, antelope, water buffalo, rhinoceroses, pythons, and more. She attended veterinary school at Sokoine University in Tanzania, where she studied pathology, anatomy, biochemistry, among other essential courses needed to be a successful vet. As a member of the African Wildlife Management and Conservation (AWMC) team, Dr. Jacky plays a crucial role in the conservation and health of wildlife across Zimbabwe. As a vet, wife, mother, and teacher, Dr. Jacky is an exceptional multitasker. She likes to share her passions with her family, and often takes them along with her while she is working. Despite living halfway across the globe, Dr. Jacky was kind enough to answer my questions about her role, and gave some amazing advice! Read on to learn more about her and her work. Hey Future Vets! Sophia here, with your February article.
As pre-vets, we all share a deep love and passion for animals, and have a common goal to improve their health and well-being. We have a special relationship with animals, one that surpasses intersectionality. This term encompasses the intersections of all aspects of one’s identity, including their race, gender, sexual orientation, opportunity, privilege, socioeconomic status, and many more. This year, the FVC has implemented a new EDI initiative, and has appointed Khamelia Lyttle as our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer for the 2024-2025 school year! With her help, we will be working to implement more diverse outlooks into the FVC, and embrace inclusion across all of our endeavours - including on the blog! We start this new initiative with an interview with Francesca, the OVC Class of 2026 Diversity Representative. She also happens to be behind the @thediverse.dvm Instagram account, where she aims to share her experiences as she goes through the journey of vet school, while also implementing diversity into the field of vet med. Here are the questions I had for her, and her responses. Enjoy! Hey future vets, Sophia here!
As we enter the extremely stressful exam season, we all have one thing in common: we are all looking forward to winter break! I know that as students interested in going to vet school, this break can also bring stress around doing research on the application process, finding job/volunteer opportunities in a vet clinic, reaching out to vets, and more. I can completely sympathize with you, as I experience this very same stress during both summer and winter break. Before you do any researching or emailing, I strongly advise you to allow yourself to take a break! The exam period is a very difficult time, and your mind and body deserve some rest after all the hard work you have put into this semester. Once you are all rested up, it's time to start contacting vets. Not sure where to start? No worries, I’ve got you covered with some tips and tricks that I myself have learned and used over the years when it comes to successfully reaching out to vets. It can be daunting to put yourself out there, but it is necessary when you are looking for a job or advice from current vets. By reaching out to vets, even if it is simply for answers to questions you have about the field, you are showing initiative and interest. These are qualities that those in the field of veterinary medicine are interested in when it comes to hiring, and it can make you more likely to be selected for a future job/volunteer position. Also, in my experience, vets are usually very willing to answer any questions you may have - chances are they have been in the exact same position we pre-vets are! Hey future vets! Emily here.
Have you ever wondered about life at the OVC beyond the academics? If you’re like me, you probably have wondered about the social aspect as well… will I make friends? Will I have a work-life balance? Will it be hard to adjust to the new setting if it is drastically different than I imagined? These are very real concerns, and the answers to all of these questions can be quite hard to come by unless you’re speaking directly to a student there. On a quest to get these answers for myself and for all of the future vets wondering the same things, I found the perfect group of people to help me out. Kyla Hartt, Bailee Cohen, and Madeleine Melloul are the 3 student veterinarians behind the massively popular instagram page, @dvm.roomies. If you are currently in your undergraduate studies with hopes of attending the Ontario Veterinary College one day, chances are they have popped across your feed before - you may even be one of their 1000+ followers already! However you come across the DVM Roomies (even if only through this article!) it is undeniable that this account has become a resource for future vets like us. Through chronicling their lives at the OVC in the form of posts and stories, they not only have been able to give undergrads an idea as to what to expect in vet school, but have also served as an important source of inspiration for many (myself included!). I was lucky enough to get to interview Kyla, Madeleine, and Bailee to ask all of our burning questions about the OVC and the reality of day-to-day life there. Thankfully, they were willing to write out their own detailed answers for my mountain of questions - and what you have in front of you now is all of the first-hand wisdom that they were able to share when they were in phase 1 at the OVC. Don’t wait any longer… read on! Protecting the Underdog: Animal Rescue at Dog Tales, Through the Eyes of Their Lead Kennel Manager10/9/2024
Hey future vets! Emily here. I’ve got a really exciting piece lined up for you this month; Cassandra is amazing, and her story is so inspiring. I cannot wait for you to read it, but first, I wanted to talk about something really important to me. I hope you’ll read my little note: When I read all of the interviews with veterinarians on the Omnis Animalis in my first year, I was in a very different place. Yes, I wanted to pursue veterinary medicine - but I was also super scared for the future. If you’ve ever felt that way - excited because you get to follow your passion, but scared that things may take other paths that you haven’t prepared for - know that you are NOT alone. Many of your fellow undergrads have felt exactly what you’re feeling right now (I’m in my fourth year, and I still feel it from time to time!) and we are all behind you. I remember wanting to think about other possible careers for myself, outside of vet med. For a while, I felt like I was betraying myself or my dream of becoming a veterinarian by doing so - I thought that coming up with backup plans meant that I subconsciously believed I would never become a vet. If you are thinking that right now, stop, and breathe. You aren’t doing anything horrifyingly blasphemous by thinking about other job pathways - in fact, it’s very smart and responsible of you to map out all of your options for your future! I’d like to encourage you to open your mind and explore ALL of the possibilities for your work life ahead. I know, it’s a little odd for a blog focused on veterinary news to be telling you that, but please remember this: no matter where you find yourself after your education (whether it’s in vet school or starting an exciting new path!), you will still be an extremely smart, well-educated, great person who wants to help animals - and absolutely will. That said, congratulations from all of us here at the FVC: you are already the amazing person you want to become. Until now, it has been a bit uncommon for the Omnis to publish interviews with anyone who isn’t in the field of veterinary medicine. I think it’s time to turn a new leaf. There are tons of wonderful experiences for future vets to consider for themselves and their futures; I am so excited for you to read about this one. Enjoy :) Hey Future Vets!
We’re officially back for the Fall 2024 semester - if you’re a returning student, we’ve missed you so much! If it’s your first year at the University of Guelph, we are SO excited to have you here. We can’t wait to meet you, so we’ve got some really fun events lined up for O-Week that we hope you’ll attend! If you don’t know what O-Week is, it is essentially your first week back to school - this takes place from Friday August 30th to Sunday September 8th. During this week, hundreds of clubs, organizations, and departments across campus will hold events to help with your transition, introduce you to your new classmates and fellow Gryphons, and get you excited for the first day of classes! All newbies are welcome to check out these events and partake in all of the fun activities - and we at the Future Vets Club hope that some of our events are on your to-see list! If this is the first you’re hearing of the Future Vets Club: welcome! The FVC is a non-profit CSA approved club run on campus. Our club’s goal is to provide support to undergraduate students intending to apply to veterinary colleges, both within Ontario and internationally. We aim to provide as much information as possible to our club members by organizing and hosting informative seminars and exciting events all year long! Our events centre around animal-related fields, work/volunteer opportunities, and schools offering a degree in veterinary medicine. If this sounds interesting to you, read on!  Above: The reception area at Mac Animal Clinic, Dr. Chung Yeen Mac's fear-free certified practice in Oakville, Ontario Tell us about any experience with animals that inspired you to become a vet.
I can’t remember ever wanting to be anything other than a vet. Once I started volunteering in general practice, it just confirmed that it was what I wanted to do. People might find that going into consults is quite hard, particularly with confidentiality, but I just remember being in practice and thinking: yes, this is what I want to do. I just couldn’t wait to have the experience and knowledge to be able to do that! That was what drove me; I would see people helping animals, or I would see animals that needed help, and not knowing how to help them motivated me to become a veterinarian, so I could be able to help those animals in the correct manner. I remember speaking with one of the vets I volunteered with, and they told me that during the interview there is going to be one question they always ask, and that is, “why do you want to be a vet?” They don’t want to hear, “I like animals and I want to help them,” they want to know if you’re passionate about the ways you’re going to do that! As a veterinarian, you are going to diagnose, give treatment, and understand the hows and whys. That's what I wanted to do; I didn’t want to just be a part of it, I wanted to be the one understanding everything and setting the treatment plans. Once you become a vet you realize it’s not possible to understand everything, though! |
Welcome to the FVC's official blog, the Omnis Animalis! Tune in monthly for helpful and fun posts written by students and industry professionals alike. Our vision for this blog is to best serve future vets with inspiring feature pieces, helpful tips, and updates on exciting events throughout the year!
the authorsMeet the editors of the Omnis Animalis! 
Sophia Di Adamo, Senior Editor
2025-2026
Maegen Eisler, Junior Editor 2025-2026
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