"People don't always have time to take their dogs home after meetings, so they just bring them here," said Ashley Powers, vice president of service for the club. "We're all animal-lovers, and it's good to be around other like-minded people."
Powers, a junior biology major, said that being a part of pre-vet club helped her narrow down her interests within the veterinary field. She now knows she wants to become a vet-technician as opposed to a doctor because it's more hands-on and involves working more with patients.
One of the primary goals of the PVC is to expose members to many different fields within veterinary medicine to aid them in choosing a specialty when they reach veterinary school. Other purposes of the club include providing members with tips on filling out their applications to vet school, meetings with current veterinary students and faculty members, and even other alternatives if getting into vet school doesn't work out, which, according to Powers, is more difficult to get into than medical school.
PVC meetings are bimonthly and feature various speakers from all walks of veterinary life. This semester's calendar includes a small animal cardiologist and a resident in large animal surgery.
Sophomore biology major Rachel Klein recalled memorable past speakers as varied as a doctor who worked with exotic animals like snakes to a parasitologist who she described as being "gross, but cool."
All members must attend at least four meetings and are also required to participate in two service activities throughout the year.
Junior diary science major Caitlin Cossaboom, who has been involved with PVC since her freshman year, has always liked participating in the community service activities, such as getting to walk research dogs for the veterinary school and helping out with a free spay/neuter clinic in Roanoke.
As a member of PVC, "I really enjoy feeling more involved in the industry," Cossaboom, who had her pet four-year-old chocolate Labrador, Peggie, in tow at Monday's meeting, said.
According to Powers, other service activities this year include cleaning up the Duck Pond, bringing dogs over to visit with residents at Warm Hearth Village retirement community, and volunteering with PetSmart as well as the Roanoke Valley Horse Rescue.
PVC also sponsors various fundraising activities throughout the year. The two biggest are the sale of pet stockings at the end of fall semester and a pet show that features cats, dogs, hamsters and other small animals during spring semester.
President of PVC, Morgan Agnew, would like to revive the pet show, which was canceled in 2007 because of April 16 and since then has not done as well, to make it a more prominent event within the community.
Since the age of two, Agnew has known she wanted to go to vet school, and her interest in the field has taken her to working with horses at Smithfield Farm and even to Greece, where this past summer she worked with dairy cows as a way to meet veterinary school expectations of having 400 hours of animal experience and 400 hours of veterinary experience.
According to Andrew, PVC will have anywhere from 80 to 100 active members at any given time.
veterinarians
