Jordan Mazzola

The hands on experiences are very accessible and diverse based on what your interests are. Wildlife Triage Team is amazing for those interested in wildlife medicine or even exotics. A lot of clubs have hands on opportunities throughout the year, for example, Integrative Medicine had an acupuncture lab for both small and large animals, Emergency and Critical Care had an ultrasound lab, and Shelter Medicine has vaccination clinics and spay/neuter events!

Clubs are such an amazing way to explore your passions and growing interests. There’s truly something for everybody and aren’t a stressful time commitment! You can do as little or as much as you want and can learn a lot no matter how familiar you are with the topic. It’s a great way to further explore your interests, but also to get involved in parts of vet med you may not know much about.

Something WSU does well is preparing us both academically and professionally for our careers. One thing they emphasize is often mixing us into random and diverse groups made up of our peers for things like anatomy or skills lab. This helps us to work on collaboration, teamwork, and communication with students outside of our immediate friend group. This will happen all the time in a clinic where we’re consulting on a case or helping a fellow veterinarian that we may not know as well, so its important to establish professional and clear communication early. There’s also helpful communication labs such as how to transfer/round on a patient and the Animal Behavior Club hosted a humane euthanasia lab to practice client communication.