Skip to main content
What can we help you find?

A Lesson in Adaptation

There is an overarching topic that is seemingly inescapable in our world today. COVID-19 and its many implications are constantly brought to mind whether I am watching the news, talking with my parents, or browsing the almost empty grocery aisles. This is a very uncertain time.

Throughout this season it has been easy to slip into a negative mindset, focused on the things I am missing during my last semester of college and the current state of our world.

However, I am realizing throughout all the events out of my control I still have a choice. How will I respond?

First, I am making the choice to remain positive and use this season to challenge my ability to practice mental toughness. I am learning to release control and adapt to unique circumstances.
Although I typically thrive on structure and planning, this is a learning experience where I get to adapt to a season of constant change.

The extra week off for Spring Break has allowed me to spend quality time with my family. I have played with my little cousins, baked bread with my mom, and spent hours outside enjoying the beautiful weather with my dogs.

As a family, we are brainstorming ways to serve our community during this time that is affecting so many. There are many amazing organizations that are working very hard to provide for families who are hurting due to the current environment. I am hoping to play a small part in helping support these families.

As my classes shift to an online format next week, I am choosing to be flexible. I’m not sure what the remainder of the semester is going to look like academically, but I am ready to continue
expanding my knowledge in a new way.

It will be a challenge to learn from a distance without the comradery of peers and interaction with professors, but I am looking forward to growing from this experience. I know I am not alone in being nervous about the shift in class structure. Friends and even professors have expressed their worries, but we are a community of Aggies who are strong and resilient. I am confident that we will support each other throughout this change.

Reflecting on my college experience as a whole, I am incredibly thankful. I am thankful for my time as a BIMS ambassador where I got to represent this amazing college. I am thankful for the amazing professors I have encountered in my classes. I am thankful for my wonderful friends I have met along my journey. I am thankful for my family who has encouraged and supported me through the ups and downs. Finally, I am thankful for Texas A&M for providing me with so much more than a good education.

Starting Off the New Year Right

It’s that time of year again to make New Year’s resolutions and, more importantly, to stick to them.

I’ve done a commendable job of managing my academic goals and expectations through the first three semesters of veterinary school, but I can’t say the same for my personal health/fitness goals; every semester starts out with good intentions, but 10 weeks in, I start to slip.

Not this year!

2020 is going to be the best one yet. And how will I make that happen?

Community.

Finding a support system that helps you stay focused and on track is the key to success, especially during transitional times like starting veterinary school.

In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor describes seven principles that will teach you to lead a happier, more productive life.

The seventh principle is about social investment—if your life was a football game and you were the quarterback, then your support system would be the offensive line. They are there to protect you, keep you in the game, and celebrate with you when the drive is over.

People have a tendency to keep to themselves when life gets tough, especially introverts like myself, so it’s important to remember your team.

My roommates and I have made a commitment to each other to stick to our wellness goals this semester. We cook together, workout together, and hold each other accountable.

My community has helped me reach the almost halfway point of veterinary school, and I can’t wait to celebrate with them at graduation as my happiest, healthiest self.

Connections for life

In the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, we are committed to the success of each individual who enters our program.

We have many programs implemented to ensure that our first-year veterinary students, especially, feel welcomed and engaged starting even before they arrive on campus.

I have the unique opportunity as the vice president of the Class of 2022 to oversee the Mentor/Mentee, or M&M, Program. This is a program in which second-year veterinary students volunteer to serve as mentors for first-year students.

The program is very informal and is meant to give participating first years a chance to meet another student who had made it through the first year of veterinary school and can give meaningful advice.

Often a mentor is simply a friendly face in the sea of unknown that students often find themselves in that first semester.

The program involves typically a cookout, a few “good luck” gifts throughout the semester, and an encouraging message every now and then.

This past week, we had a M&M Pizza Party in which all of the mentors and mentees were given pizza and a set aside lunch hour to just chat.

After helping serve the pizza, I walked outside and was blown away by the incredible community I could see happening around me. Students were supporting one another, giving advice, asking questions, and just enjoying one another’s company.

Veterinary school is a unique environment because everyone around you is not just a classmate but a future colleague.

The connections we make in veterinary school don’t end when we cross that stage or move out of College Station; they will follow us throughout our careers. We are together in this place to learn from one another and to build a solid foundation on which to continue building this incredible profession.