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Making an Impact

Coming into my fourth semester as an undergraduate student here at Texas A&M, lots of things are changing!

This semester, I became a junior (in my sophomore year; early graduation here I come!), so I have my eyes on that Aggie bling soon.

As of this semester, I actually have a tour shift in my job as an ambassador, meaning that I get the opportunity to lead more tours and show alumni, prospective students, and visitors the beautiful College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences here at Texas A&M.

Being able to meet such a diverse pool of people is such a rewarding aspect of my job!

My favorite types of tours are those given to high schoolers. I find it easy to communicate with younger students and I connect a little more easily with them. We can always laugh and have a good time.

I love the thought that one day, my words may bring them to be one of our newest, loudest, and proudest Aggies!

I also got some exciting news this month.

Last May, I traveled to Australia for a vacation, and we went to Bondi Beach. While there, my mom and I just happened to notice a poster advertising an opportunity to model in a photoshoot empowering women.

On a whim, I decided that it would be such an amazing opportunity, and we took a couple of hours out of our vacation to do it. Those photos are being put into a book called “This Is Me,” which comes out next month in Australia.

As a promotion for the book, Marie Claire magazine AU chose 12 photos out of hundreds to be in their editorial and they picked mine!

My photo and words get to be shown to people all across Australia and the United States, and I can’t help but be so delighted about the way I can help other people through my story.

Reflections of a 3/8th-‘Dog-tor’

Amanda and Evie, over the break

Last weekend I was able to help with Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) interviews for the Class of 2024, and it was amazing to be a part of the process.

Looking at all of the nervous applicants, I was reminded of how I was in their same position just a year and a half ago. 

I remember planning to arrive four hours early so I could attend a tour before my interview time and the first time I walked into the beautiful Veterinary & Biomedical Education Complex (VBEC), where I would eventually get to spend the next four years (or three, if I don’t include my clinical year), and getting the chance to walk through the lecture and lab

Amanda and her mentor group on their last day of DVM orientation

rooms as other veterinary students explained where things were and how amazing their vet school experience had been.

But this time, I was that excited veterinary student telling the future generations all about how the desks in our lecture halls have outlets at every seat and how every single professor cares about every student and wants them to become the best veterinarian that they can be.

Reflecting on how far I’ve come also allows me to see who has supported me through the whole process.

They say that caring for a veterinary student takes a village and I never realized how true that was until I saw all of the family and friends who came to College Station to support their loved one during this year’s interview process.

Amanda and friends after their last final of their first year

I’ve been lucky that my family and friends from other walks of life have stood by me during the past year and a half, and I’m also lucky that I’ve found such great friends here at the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM).

Amanda and her twin sister, Lauren, in their first pair of scrubs (her sister is currently in her second year of medical school)

You can only talk about intestinal parasites and how they remind you of certain types of noodles so many times before you’re automatically bonded for life with someone!

My friends like to say that I’m too much of an optimist at times, but comparing where I am now to where I was during the interview process makes me disagree.

It’s hard not to be a big believer that everything will be all right when you can see your personal growth so clearly, especially when you’re only 5/8ths away from becoming a “dog-tor!”