Texas A&M Students Honored at American Association of Bovine Practitioner Conference
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Cade Luckett, a third-year veterinary student at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), was recently honored with the Amstutz Scholarship from the American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP). This is just one of several recognitions of CVM students at the AABP conference in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sept. 14 to 17.
The AABP’s Amstutz scholarship was created to support veterinary students interested in rural and food animal medicine, specifically bovine medicine. Today, the scholarship totals $7,500 and is the largest in the nation for students pursuing bovine medicine. The scholarship, named in honor of Dr. Harold E. Amstutz, encourages students to pursue bovine medicine and helps ensure that students are well trained, according to AABP.
“I am very grateful for the work that Dr. Amstutz did to move our profession forward,” Luckett said. “It was an honor to be recognized amongst my peers through this scholarship created in his memory. By receiving this award, I accept the challenge of collaborating with my colleges to propel bovine medicine into the future.”
“The scholarship amount has really grown over the years as the cost of veterinary tuition has increased and is a meaningful contribution towards that debt,” said Dr. Meredyth Jones, associate professor at the CVM who won the award in 2000. “On top of that, receiving the scholarship is a huge honor. Dr. Amstutz, for whom the scholarship is named, is a legend in bovine medicine, and this really shows that Cade has set himself apart as one of the top future bovine practitioners in the nation.”
Luckett is one of only seven third-year veterinary students in the nation awarded the scholarship this year. The award is based on students’ interest in bovine medicine, extracurricular activities, answers to essay questions, grades, and letters of recommendation.
“The scholarship comes along at a good time, as students are in the midst of their third year of veterinary school,” Jones said. “At this point, they have taken on some debt that the scholarship can pay down, but they are also about to incur some expenses in addition to tuition during their fourth year as they travel to externships to gain additional clinical experience.”
After graduation, Luckett plans on returning to the Texas panhandle near his hometown, Matador, Texas. There, he plans on practicing bovine medicine. “I have a true passion for beef cattle,” he said, “so I would prefer to practice predominately food animal medicine. My ultimate goal is to own my practice. My wife and I both come from a long line of ranchers and we plan on carrying on the tradition.”
In addition to Luckett’s scholarship, a number of other students were honored at the AABP conference. Amy Eiland and Zach Sharpe, two third-year veterinary students, presented case reports, and Eiland was awarded first place.
Luckett and Garrett Janke served as junior delegates at the AABP convention. Also, the CVM’s two quiz bowl teams competed at the convention. The members of the quiz bowl teams are Cade Luckett, Garrett Janke, Alec Wynne, Amy Eiland, Lauren Thompson, Cassandra Burghardt, Justin Casares, and Zach Sharpe.
“As faculty, we appreciate the dedication it took to reach this level of competition,” said Dr. Kevin Washburn, professor at the CVM and faculty advisor to the student AABP chapter. “Our students spent hours outside the classroom preparing, and all the hard work certainly paid off! We are very proud of all of them and the way they represented our veterinary school.”
