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! |
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! |