Published: July 24, 2008 01:39 pm         

Vet-med summer camp

OSU wants rural students to return to hometowns with degrees

Oklahoma State University is taking a step toward addressing what it sees as a growing problem.

Dr. Katrina Meinkoth, manager of veterinary medicine recruitment for OSU, said rural areas aren’t getting enough veterinarians.

With that in mind, the school is hosting its third annual Veterinary Medicine in Agriculture Summer Camp this week. Fifteen high school seniors and college freshmen from smaller Oklahoma towns were selected to participate in the three-day event that gives them an introduction to the study of veterinary medicine.

“We’re looking for ways to recruit students from the rural areas and get them knowledgeable about what they need to do so more likely they would go back (as veterinarians) rather than going straight to human medicine or something like that along the way,” Meinkoth said.

The students stay in OSU apartments and spend much of the first day in lectures, though they did get to practice some osteology in McElroy Hall’s anatomy lab.

“They learn the names of the thoracic limb of the dog,” said Dr. Larry Stein, who oversaw the hands-on portion of Wednesday’s activities. “They learn terms that apply to all species. … This is similar to what we do the first day with first-year veterinary students.”

The students studied the bones and identified lameness.

It was a lead-in to what they will do today and Friday, when Meinkoth said everything will be hands-on.

One participant is Perkins-Tryon senior Elizabeth Grant, who said she is still deciding which area of veterinary medicine she will study.

“This will help me make sure I know what field I want to go into,” said Grant, noting she is leaning toward feed animals.

Less than a day into the camp, Grant said she was enjoying herself and learning a lot.

Wyatt Swinford, a pre-veterinary medicine student at OSU, participated in the first camp and is assisting with this one.

The Okemah native said he learned valuable lessons as a camper.

For some, it is a good way to get a taste of life as a college student and find out whether veterinary medicine is worth pursuing.

For others, Swinford said, it is a mind-expanding experience.

“So many people think it’s all about being a rural (veterinarian) or working on small animals in an area, but this opens their eyes to so many possibilities, whether it’s in government, whether it’s in pharmaceutical sales, whether it’s a mix with large animals,” Swinford said.

“It also starts putting you on the track to how you get there, how you get to this lofty dream you have.”

He said it is a great deal.

Campers pay $75, while the school picks up the rest of the tab.

Meinkoth said she wants to present students with “the good stuff” as well as the challenges of veterinary medicine.

Without that, those who aren’t serious about the topic might not realize it until after they get to college.

“That’s why I like showing them a little of everything,” Meinkoth said. “I want them to know it all and not have any recruiter schmooze.”

     

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