My Experience As A Texas A&M Veterinary Student In Canyon
By Cade Holden, Texas A&M Class of 2025 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine student
I have dreamed of becoming a veterinarian ever since I was 12 years old, when I first got involved in 4-H and FFA in my hometown of Granada, Colorado.
As an undergraduate at West Texas A&M University, I met Dr. Dan Posey — director of student recruitment in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences — who told me about Texas A&M’s new 2+2 Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program, which allows up to 18 Aggie veterinary students to spend the first two years of the four-year program learning at the Veterinary Education, Research, & Outreach facility on the WT campus.
I had already fallen in love with the Texas Panhandle, and Canyon, specifically, so the idea of sticking around and contributing to an up-and-coming program was very appealing.
When I was accepted to be part of the inaugural 2+2 veterinary class in the fall of 2021, I was so excited.
While the location and class size are different, 2+2 students receive the same world-class Aggie veterinary education as our classmates in College Station. Being in the heart of Texas’ food animal industry, however, provides new and unique learning opportunities.
For example, we visited Cnossen Dairy with Dr. Hatem Kittanna to learn about cattle preventive medicine in a real-life dairy environment and the biosecurity measures taken to keep our milk supply safe.
Now that I’m entering my third year of veterinary school, I have found it exciting to look back and see how much my class and I have contributed to the development of the program over the past two years.
Our professors have been excellent at getting to know each of us individually and figuring out the best ways to support our success in the classroom as well as our career goals. No matter what we needed — or when we needed it — they were always willing to go out of their way to help.
Drs. Lisa Lunn, Hugh Duddy, and Kelli Beavers, especially, made a big impact on my goals and education. As specialists in different areas, all view a case from a different perspective. Someday, I hope to be a combination of (large animal clinician) Dr. Lunn’s cool and calm, (surgery professor) Dr. Duddy’s critical analysis, and (equine reproduction expert) Dr. Beaver’s proper technique.
Watching that many experienced veterinarians under one roof has truly been an amazing way to begin my own veterinary journey. I will carry their advice and expertise with me for my entire career.
One of the most special aspects of the 2+2 program is getting to experience the veterinary curriculum as part of a small, close-knit group of students. From endless inside jokes to study sessions with the entire class at Chili’s, I have come to know these classmates like family members.
We even worked together to organize our own version of Texas A&M’s “Fur Ball,” the end-of -year dance for veterinary students. VERO’s second “Dust Ball” this past spring was the perfect way to wrap up our two years in Canyon and celebrate hitting the halfway point in our veterinary education.
This month, those of us who began classes at VERO will reunite with the other 162 students in the DVM Class of 2025 for our third year in College Station. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, but I’m also very excited to explore a much larger campus and reconnect with the classmates I’ve been keeping up with over text for the past two years.
Since I plan to pursue a career in equine surgery, I’m also looking forward to learning more surgical techniques and skills over the next two years.
I hope to open my own practice one day, and if being a part of the VERO program has taught me anything, it’s that working and living in a rural Texas community is where I belong.
I may have grown up in southeast Colorado, but Texas has become my home away from home.
While the majority of my time in Canyon has come to an end, I’m looking forward to returning to VERO during my fourth year for clinical rotations in equine and cattle medicine. It will be great to reunite with my professors and revisit the VERO facility and show them how much more I’ve learned since the last time I saw them, as well as visit some of my favorite spots in Canyon.
No matter where in Texas the future takes me, my time as a Texas A&M 2+2 program student will always give Canyon, and the entire Panhandle Plains region, a special place in my heart.
