Does your school do outreach for kids?

[traxomatic]

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I'm working on a community outreach program for middle-school aged children to expose them to different aspects of veterinary medicine here at OSU. I was wondering if any other vet schools are involved in a web/digital based outreach project for children. If you could let me know (and point me to a page) that would be fantastic. Send me a message, email ( tracy dot mccormack at gmail dot com ) or reply to this post.

Thanks!

 

[CookieBear]

I saw this:
http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/animaldoc/index.php

And I remembered reading about this in a recent Tufts newsletter:
Tufts: Gap Junction
Gap Junction is a community outreach education program that allows veterinary students to teach biology-based labs to youth in the Boston and Worcester areas. Every week Gap Junction volunteers help to bring the worlds of science and veterinary medicine into the minds of middle school students. The club hosts different schools from around the area every Tuesday afternoon. Each school comes for a series of four week workshops. In the first two weeks, the children learn about the body systems and about pathology of body systems. In the third week, the children enjoy a mini-PBL session, and they end the fourth week with a tour of the farms and clinics. If you like teaching or enjoy working with children, this is the best opportunity for you in veterinary school.

As far as web-based.. I could've sworn that one of the "M" schools in the north, Minnesota or Michigan, had a kid-oriented veterinary page(s) online.

I know this may not've been exactly what you're looking for... perhaps the Tufts thing is most applicable for you.

Oh, uhm, I think Auburn has a nice raptor center, and I recall reading on their site about stuff they offer there for kids? It may just be an annual event or something. And I could be recalling incorrectly... But I do remember their raptor center, i.e., THAT exists.

 

[Spartanvet4cows]

Michigan State has a few programs. I'm pretty sure they have a vet camp for 8th graders (at least they did a while back), they've got vetward bound for underprivileged students, and then there's the annual event "Vet-a-Visit." That's the one open house we have every year and it brings in over 3,000 people (LOTS of kids!). I'm on the food animal committee for it, and it's quite an event. Fliers are sent out to schools around the state. We have a website - www.vetavisit.com but it hasn't been updated with new pictures from the 2007 event. It's pretty cool to check out though.

 

[jfitzpatri8]

Sparty forgot the outreach done by different clubs. I will put in a plug for my fraternity, Alpha Psi. We require 4 hours of community service per semester, and we do it at a local therapeutic riding center for the severely disabled in our community. It is a very rewarding pasttime.

The place is called Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center.
The club is Alpha Psi.

Both can be found with a Google search.

Sparty, Vet Camp has been cancelled UFN. Bummer, I was going to volunteer. Sprecher and Patterson both included plans to rejuvenate it in their Associate Dean position statements. That reminds me- WHY WERENT YOU THERE??? Bad Vet Student, BAD!

Ok, flagellation over.

OP- good for you for wanting to reach out. My suggestion is to get in right around 5th grade. That is where girls start to care more about boys than school, and begin to pretend that "math and science are TOO HARD" to get attention from boys. This is a problem because then they start to believe it! And, this is the age where boys start to think that vet med is just for girls because it is cuddly- no real challenge. We all know that is SO not true... we have to get them to believe it!

Happy planning-

Jenn

 

[traxomatic]

thanks everyone!