Class of 2019 Moves to Clinics

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

More than 800 students applied for the 84 seats the Class of 2019 has occupied for the last three years at Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences. These students earned a rite of passage as they formally moved from the classroom to the Veterinary Medical Hospital clinics during a Transition Ceremony held in their honor on Friday, April 27.

“This is the time for our students to shine,” said Dr. Daniel Burba, interim head of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences. “This is their opportunity to apply the knowledge they acquired and the skills they have gained. This is the start of their career.”

“When I was an undergrad, I came to the veterinary center for several tours and just loved the environment,” said Mary Beth Davis of Guthrie, Okla. “I’m from Oklahoma so naturally I wanted to come to the college that is in my state.”

“I chose Oklahoma State because I came here for undergrad and whenever I first visited Stillwater, I just felt like I was at home and I was with a family,” stated Alexis Sirois of Argyle, Texas. “As I’m transitioning into fourth year, I have a lot of emotions. This has been a goal of mine since I was five, so I am very excited finally to have that last hurdle. I am excited. I’m scared but I know in the end, it’s going to be such a worthwhile opportunity.”

“I think one of the things going through my mind and my classmates’ is, Are we ready?” added Davis. “I think we just need to trust all the knowledge that we’ve gained over the past three years and that our clinicians and professors have given us the information to be successful in our fourth year. Of course, I am excited to be with patients. I am looking forward to surgery rotation and ophthalmology. Those are some of my favorites and being on community practice to maybe do some dentals.”

“The thing I’m looking forward to the most in fourth year is being able to finally take all this knowledge that I’ve learned the past three years in classes and apply it,” echoed Sirois. “We get to actually take care of real patients, real animals.”

The class of 2019 will spend the next year rotating through 17 different three-week assignments in various aspects of veterinary medicine. They will hone their clinical skills and client communication skills as they delve into anesthesiology, food animal medicine and surgery, equine medicine and surgery, ophthalmology, theriogenology, small animal medicine and surgery, and more.

For more information on a career in veterinary medicine, visit www.cvhs.okstate.edu or call the student services team at 405-744-6961. If you would like to support the future of veterinary medicine, please contact Ms. Chris Sitz, senior director of development with the OSU Foundation, at 405-385-5170 or csitz@osugiving.com.