PHOTO | Shian Nicholson - Vice-President, Katlyn Brewer, shows off one of the dogs available for adoption.
There are several up and running school organizations on West Texas A&M’s campus, however, one has lain dormant for a few years and has recently been re-established.
Veterinary medicine is important to all pet owners and animal lovers. Although WT does not have a veterinary school, they do offer a pre-vet curriculum. This degree is to help prepare those that have chosen this line of work for vet school.
There are very few veterinary schools, and it is very competitive to get into each of them. However, there is a need for rural veterinarians. It is a difficult and demanding job, very similar to being a human physician.
The hours are long, they are constantly on call, house visits are often required and for the vets who choose to treat large animals such as horses and cows, the job can be dangerous.
Because of the need for rural vets, some vet schools such as Maine and Kansas offer debt forgiveness for graduates who work for rural veterinary offices for at least two years.
Here on WT’s campus, a group of pre-vet majors went looking to sign up for the Pre-Vet Club and were told that they couldn’t, but they could start it back up.
They spent the last half of this past fall semester working on ideas and rules for the club. The group also set up officers for the club, which are as follows: President- Shian Nicholson, Vice-President- Katlyn Brewer, Secretary- Alicia Coventry and Treasurer- Amber Richerson.
“The goal of the club is to help get members into vet school,” Nicholson said. “We don’t have to have an undergraduate degree to get into it.”
In order to get into vet school, students must have a certain amount of voluntary and internship hours.
They have begun volunteering with the Amarillo Panhandle Humane Society by going to the mall on Saturdays and helping get dogs adopted into good homes.
Another goal of the club is to help make sure that students are certain that this is the path they want to follow for the rest of their lives because it takes a lot of commitment.
PHOTO | Shian Nicolson - President, Shian Nicholson, takes time to help the Humane Society get abandoned dogs good homes.
Additionally, in the first two years of college, students must declare whether they want to work with large or small animals. Nicholson said that they are trying to help that decision along by giving members the opportunity to work with both
“We would like to get everyone 60 hours of voluntary work and 100 hours of internship hours,” Nicholson said.
They are trying to get together with the A&M Animal Diagnostics Lab in Amarillo to do necropsies, which are the animal equivalent of an autopsy.
The club is also working on trying to get trips together to travel to Oklahoma State University and Colorado State University to check out their vet programs and see how they work.
Right now the club consists of eight members. Dues are $10 per semester. They meet every first and third Monday of the month for meetings and every second and fourth Monday for non-mandatory study groups.
They meet in room 216 of the Ag Building, in case you are interested in checking it out. You do not have to be a pre-vet major to join; just have an interest in animals.
This organization would like to grow and develop into a club that really impacts the community, so if you have an interest in voluntary work and love animals, the Pre-Vet Club would probably be a good fit for you.