Class of 2017 Story: Unwavering Support

Elizabeth Hyde
Hometown: Huntersville, N.C.
Focus and post-graduation plans: Zoological medicine; small animal rotating internship at Kansas State University

Try everything, but know your limits.

This is a phrase I try to live by and it was put to the test in the Galapagos.

This selective trip was non-stop learning, challenges and fun. In a single day, you could go from hiking the 1,000-meter Sierra Negra volcano in the morning to chasing down Galapagos tortoises and swimming with sharks in the afternoon.

Each day, we never quite knew what we were getting ourselves into. However, with the guidance of Dr. Greg Lewbart, we slowly learned that each day was a kind of choose your own adventure, and there was always much to learn.

Here at the CVM, there is no shortage of people encouraging and helping you reach your future goals. No matter your focus area, the professors do their best to help adapt the knowledge they have to give in a way that applies to your species of interest.

I cannot thank my mentors, Dr. Lewbart, Dr. Suzanne Kennedy-Stoskopf, Dr. Tara Harrison, Dr. Jeff Applegate and Dr. Laurie Degernes, enough for their dedication to my education and development.

As a student interested in zoological medicine, I appreciate how the faculty within my focus area work together to build upon my class’ knowledge of domestic species in order to teach us to work on exotics species such as invertebrates, fish and birds.

If I had to give advice to current and future CVM classes it would have to be this: Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know” or “let me look that up.” Vet school is all about the learning experience.

Your professors are asking you those questions for a reason.

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