Open House Wows Hundreds of NC State College of Veterinary Medicine Visitors

With baby pigs and goats to the left, handsome horses to the right and dogs of all descriptions straight ahead, hundreds of visitors strolled up to the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine on Saturday for 2025’s Open House and a chance to explore the ways the college and veterinary hospital are leading forces in veterinary research, training and medical care.

Paths through the halls and outside the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Terry Companion Animal Veterinary Medical Clinic and the Large Animal Hospital featured more than 20 stops where community members sampled veterinary student panels, scientific presentations and hands-on activities simulating several aspects of animal health care. 

In the Research Building across the street, guests found eight projects, including Crime Busters!, Gels for Cells and Molecular Mapping, to explore. 

With a click counter, Elizabeth Welch’s daughters Marla and Avery Shelton took turns investigating a facsimile of a microscope slide to see how many live cells and dead cells they could find. Kristen John, a Ph.D. student in genetics in the college’s Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, and Lexi Istishin, an undergraduate majoring in microbiology at NC State, were on hand to explain the science of mapping molecules.

“We study human cell lines that fight off flu infection, so we’re trying to study genes and what they do,” John said. “Our activity is just showing kids how we would grow their lung cells in the lab, what healthy cells would look like and then counting the cells under a microscope in order to plan our experiments.”

Welch, a veterinarian from the NC State Class of 2022, brought her daughters from Cary to Open House for the third year in a row. Marla enjoyed explaining the experiment John and Istishin set up with small bottles of dyed water and glitter.

“We were talking about the cells and how many there were,” she said. “And we were saying how there could be more bacteria and germs in the gold one, and then there’s like no germs in the red one because it’s cleaner.”

Elsewhere on campus, the day-long showcase was punctuated with numerous events and demonstrations, including canine agility, equine acupuncture and how to bottle-feed a newborn kitten. The Surgery Club also offered its popular Teddy Bear Clinic, Tour Stop No. 6, where veterinary students sewed up tears and cuts on prized plush animals. 

Louise Keel, a 7-year-old from Raleigh, brought her dog’s severely injured toy bunny for some TLC, and fourth-year veterinary student Mariam Yassin went to work with her scissors and a smile.

“We need to pick a suture that’s gonna stay in there for a long time so it lasts as long as possible,” Yassin explained to Louise, noting that she had been eager to take on suturing duty at her last Open House before she receives her DVM in May.

“I love talking to kids, and I love talking to their parents,” Yassin said. “I love just being part of it. I know how much goes into making this day possible, and it’s just phenomenal. I have so much fun doing it. When people bring teddies and say, ‘Oh, I’ve had this since I was 2,’ it’s a good feeling putting those back together.”

In the anatomy lab, Tour Stop No. 12, first-year veterinary students, including Clarkson Plumides of Charlotte, North Carolina, used skeletons, specimens and models to share with visitors what they’ve been learning about this year.

At her station, Plumides enthusiastically explained horse tendons, ruminant stomachs and hair balls to Ava and Owen List as the children touched the skeletal inside of a whale’s mouth.

“See these fibers? They’re made out of the same material as your fingernails,” Plumides said. “This basically helps filter out what the whale is swallowing. Imagine all this hair on the roof of your mouth. Isn’t that crazy?”

Jeff List, a graduate of NC State’s College of Engineering, and his wife, Kristin, live in Charlotte and made the drive to Raleigh so he could share the campus with his family and the veterinary college with young Ava, who has expressed an interest in being a “dog doctor.”

“I like dogs and animals,” Ava said. “They’re cute.”

Open House also offers a chance for prospective students to ask admissions questions and hear from current students. Rhonda Davis from Durham brought Girl Scouts, ranging in age from 8 to 15, from Troop 1058 to Open House so they could explore STEM careers. 

“I thought that the vet school opportunity was very enticing,” Davis said as she picked up admissions materials from Tour Stop No. 2. “I wanted them to have the opportunity to see what it entailed. We’re going to listen to a young lady speak about a day in the life of a veterinarian next.”

Bridget Wall-Lennon and her 12-year-old daughter Lauren visited from Wake Forest so Lauren could get a taste of what it might take to go to veterinary school.

“I thought, what better way than for us to come on campus here and allow her the opportunity to experience it?” Wall-Lennon said.

Between visiting the anatomy lab, watching the canine agility demonstrations and seeing the cows and horses from the college’s Teaching Animal Unit, Lauren gained a better understanding of what her future might entail.

“We took a picture in front of the sign,” Wall-Lennon said with a smile, “so hopefully one day I’ll have an actual picture of her entering college [here, too], if that’s what she decides to do.”