University Pre-Vet Clubs, Love 'em or leave 'em?

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vetme

KSU CVM c/o 2015
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So I was wondering how everyone felt about their University's pre-vet club if there is one where you attend.

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Leave 'em.
Went to the first meeting as an undergrad, and it was the most absurd thing I've ever seen in my life. Pretty much consisted of various cliques standing around comparing their manicures.
Talked to one upperclassman, who said all the meetings were like that.

Sure enough, went to a second meeting a few weeks later and just gave up after that.

And this was at a large university with a huge ansci department.

I'm sure if the club is well run, the members (especialy the president) cares enough to arrange quality meetings/lectures/workshops/info sessions/etc it would be worth it.
 
Love the one here at OSU, where I am the Publicity Chair.

We have a different speaker at each meeting. Some examples are a veterinary pathologist, a vet who owns and runs a low cost/high volume spay/neuter clinic, an emergency veterinarian, a veterinarian who works in academia, a large animal veterinarian, a veterinary opthamalogist, etc. We have necropsy wetlabs, do mock interviews, have a mentor program, volunteer at a spay/neuter clinic and a shelter, and have socials. We're a very active club and it's a lot of fun.

If your school's pre-vet club isn't all you'd like it to be, consider joining and running for office. I saw some things last year that I'd like to improve so I ran for exec board, got the position I did, and ended up being able to change a lot of things to improve the club.
 
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My university doesn't have a pre-vet club, but the animal welfare club may as well be a pre-vet club because most of us want to be vets haha. I was a general member in the animal welfare club for my first 2 years and this year I'm VP fundraising.

We hold exec meetings every other week and general member meetings every other week (alternate the 2). We plan trips to the local SPCA to walk dogs there, to the horse rescue, to the local aviary, and we fundraise for the SPCA too. We're trying to plan a trip to the Toronto Wildlife Rescue or Toronto Zoo (couple hours away from our school) this semester. And we're getting in a previous club member (who's now a 1st year vet student) to come talk to us about her experiences. Right now I'm planning a coffeehouse event to raise funds for the horse rescue, and I'm also going to hold an interview workshop (for MMI style) soon because I've had some experience with simulated patient/MMI interviews (some of the courses in my program use MMIs as a component of the final exam).
 
We don't have a pre-vet club... or an animal welfare club... the pre-med club is for those who want to go into pharm or MD...

We have a biology society. One super big clique. The only reason I keep going is because it looks good on a resume and so I can have my way to the biology conference paid for :rolleyes:

I've been in the society all four years. The pres only started attending this year. The vice pres only started attending this year but went to the conference last year. The treasure was only here this year. They're all best friends... and poorly organized.

One of my lab instructors suggested I start a pre-vet club. So far, there are two of us who are planning on going the veterinary route. I can't stand the other girl. She's rude.

Hurray for going to a tiny university!

For those of you who have an awesome pre-vet club, I envy you!
 
I had a similar experience to cowgirla. A lot of pre-vet girls gossiping and talking about their stats and stuff. I didn't even go back for a second meeting. I hear its disorganized and still cliquey, but I know that they do have admissions people come from a few close by schools to speak to students. I guess it just isn't really an environment I want to be in, whereas SDN fulfills all of my vet school needs while still being supportive and fun. Pre-vet club, not so much.
 
Love the one here at OSU, where I am the Publicity Chair.

We have a different speaker at each meeting. Some examples are a veterinary pathologist, a vet who owns and runs a low cost/high volume spay/neuter clinic, an emergency veterinarian, a veterinarian who works in academia, a large animal veterinarian, a veterinary opthamalogist, etc. We have necropsy wetlabs, do mock interviews, have a mentor program, volunteer at a spay/neuter clinic and a shelter, and have socials. We're a very active club and it's a lot of fun.

If your school's pre-vet club isn't all you'd like it to be, consider joining and running for office. I saw some things last year that I'd like to improve so I ran for exec board, got the position I did, and ended up being able to change a lot of things to improve the club.

That's great EllieGirl, way to take initiative:thumbup:
 
I was thinking of making a Pre-Vet club at my university. :oops:
 
I only know of the online group for guelph OVC , I hope when I am attending YorkU or U of Toronto for my undergrad studies there will be one or I will have to make one. I wonder if I make one will I be able to put that on my resume and application for vet schools ... mmmhhh :)
 
Mostly leave. The pre-vet club at UC Davis is centered on the internships they have procured from the VMTH. Personally, I feel like the club feeds a competitive and hostile environment between the pre-vet crowd. The officers decide student placement in the internships and as a person who has sat in on one of these decision sessions, I don't think they should have this power. Of course they place themselves in thier favorites and award members interships based on unworthy reasons. I think people only run for officers to be able to have top pick for internships, not for the interest of developing the club.

The one thing I would never miss out on every year was the dinner with a vet student. It was an end of the year dinner the vet club would put on so undergrads could talk to vet students about applications, vet school life, etc. It was very fun, and the vet students showed that they weren't just there for a free meal. Reminds me of SDN a little :rolleyes:.
 
We have a Pre-Health club at my school that caters almost entirely to Medical school applicants. Our pre-vets are ninjas who are used to fending for themselves. Otherwise, it's just an endless parade of bake sales and process meetings. I guess it will be a line on an application down the road, but I can't honestly say I've learned anything or done any real networking through membership.

I'd say evaluate your school's club and make the decision. If you're getting speakers and taking trips, it seems like it would be a legitimate use of time.
If it's just 8th grade student council nonsense, take a pass and find a better use for that block of your time.
 
I've had positive experiences with 2 university pre-vet clubs, both here in CO.

I started with the club at CU-Boulder b/c I lived down there for my first year in CO. Usually only 10-12 people per meeting. Dinner was always served.

My second year in CO, I moved up to Fort Collins. I went to CSU's first pre-vet meeting for that year, and as I walked toward the meeting room, I asked a club officer what was for dinner. She gave me a blank stare. Then I walked into the room and saw at least 200 people, and thought to myself, "Oh, no wonder she thought I was an idiot."

But, regardless of the vastly different sizes, both clubs are really good. Lots of speakers, events, community service, etc.
 
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Some love, I leave. But only after the free pizza.
 
I left mine lol they barely had any activities and like others have said it just seemed like cliques hanging out. Although, this was coming from a point of view that i was a bio major pre-vet and everyone else was an animal science major pre-vet, so maybe they didn't mean to be cliquey they just all knew each other really well from classes? either way, they had no activities so it was just a resume booster.

although..

when i was a jr. i actually started getting emails from the club because there were new officers who planned real activities and volunteer work. by then i was too busy with my own stuff. but i guess it depends on the officers and what their goal is for the club
 
yeah, i went to a few meetings with my pre-vet club, but i felt kind of left out. i wished they would have made me feel a bit more welcome. it was a little intimidating.
 
I tried to join too late in the game. Maybe it would have done good early on, or maybe it would have filled my head with complete nonsense...

Here's what turned me off.

The president was telling everyone about the next meeting at the end of our first (and my last) and she said, "Okay, so [admissions person] will be speaking during the next meeting about V-M-C-A-S (she said the letters individually, haha) and about what they look for in applications. So unless you are applying this year, you might want to skip the meeting."

The meeting was set for mid September.

I'm like... if that's the first time you're hearing about VIM-CASS and the first time you're learning what they want to see on the application, what the hell good will that do you when applications are due in two weeks?

Another bad point was that they did some volunteer work with a local lady that rescues cougars. Which is neat, except that there's one cougar that the lady decided to keep as a pet and lets live in her house and SLEEP IN BED WITH HER. Of all people to volunteer for... I'm sure they visit the humane society once a year, and maybe they do something with the Iowa Tribe's raptor rehab center (or something like that) but really, you could do these things on your own.

And, I was fairly convinced that if I walked up to the president/council and asked something like, "Can you name five vet schools besides OkSU, Texas, and Kansas?" or "What other school(s) require the biology GRE?" I would have gotten a blank stare.

So basically, SDN left me jaded towards paying dues to join a club of people that honestly seemed pretty ignorant of the process and of the other possibilities besides our IS school.

Or, maybe I'm anti-social. Haha. Either way, I don't think I missed out on anything huge.
 
I was a part of my University's pre-vet society for all 4 years of undergrad. I held an exec position my sophomore year and was VP for my junior and senior years. Our club wasn't competitive since we're at a school without a vet school and with a pre-med office that sucks for pre-vet students. So we were really the only information that anyone had about the vet school process. In fact I think everyone (well, almost) was super supportive of each other.

When I joined we had a few volunteer connections and in the time I was a part of the club I brought a few more in that people still work with.

I think it really depends on who's in charge as to if the club is good or not. Depending on the leadership there were times I hated it and times I loved it. But considering my VP position other than random arguments with the pres I typically enjoyed it!

Things our club did: arranged volunteer connections, volunteered at large county spay/neuter events, informed members about the application process, some trips to places (ie. zoo, Humane Society walk), speakers once in a while though people never showed up for those

I would join again if I had the chance :thumbup:
 
Maybe I am biased because I am the VP here at UF but I do believe they are great. I never heard of it my freshman year and so I only joined my sophmore year. I did notice the cliques but I was determined to get involved and give them a chance.

I decided to run for secretary, but I did it my way-My election speech was a poem, like dr. seuss style!!:D I figured if I was going to be a part of it, people should get to know the real goofy and weird me, not my statistics which is what most of the other speeches consisted of that day. After that I ran for VP because I was sick of the same events and decided to have more fun and exciting things, and so far I think I have changed things up! I always try to make an effort to reach out to the non-officers because I remember being in their shoes.

Obviously all clubs are different but I get upset when people say we are cliquey, because sometimes members just don't make an effort to get to know us! We always host member bonding (in lack of a better word) events where we go bowling or skating or bbq, so we have a better atmosphere to get to know our newbies and barely anyone out of 200 members show up. Those that do sometimes just go to meet the 2 events per semester minimum and leave within 10 minutes.

So to summarize my rant, its all what you make of it. If you plan on making an effort and getting involved then it can be a great place to meet people with similar interests. No matter where you go you will have those competitive people that will get on your nerves, but try to look past it and appreciate the rest the club offers.

PS-I agree 110% with ellieG get involved and make the changes you want to see. Chances are others agree with you and will appreciate you for it.:D

Hope this helps!
 
When I was a freshman at Auburn, I joined the pre-vet club from out of state and was welcomed with open arms. Meetings were very beneficial and great volunteer opportunities were offered. I transferred to the University of Florida my junior year and joined the pre-vet club here. I felt like there were just too many people to be able to benefit from the club and the officers just kind of talked amongst themselves rather than reaching out to the new members. I feel if there is a smaller number of people it is a love 'em situation.
 
When I was a freshman at Auburn, I joined the pre-vet club from out of state and was welcomed with open arms. Meetings were very beneficial and great volunteer opportunities were offered. I transferred to the University of Florida my junior year and joined the pre-vet club here. I felt like there were just too many people to be able to benefit from the club and the officers just kind of talked amongst themselves rather than reaching out to the new members. I feel if there is a smaller number of people it is a love 'em situation.



:( This makes me really sad!!! Do you still go here for undergrad??
 
to momo23

i must say, y'all have done a pretty good job this year w/pre-vet club. i'm not tooooo into it, but i do go to hear the speakers [and obv, free food lol]. so :thumbup:
 
I've considered discussing the possibility of starting one at my undergrad, because they advertise themselves as offering "pre-vet advising", but it's a joke. There are no resources available for students, the advisors don't understand the admissions process, and very few of those who start out pre-vet end up following through. Most probably could if they had some support.

I'm thinking it might be helpful in terms of providing incoming students with practical information, networking (with each other) and developing contacts in the community (it's not easy to find paid clinic jobs around here if you're not a certified tech). We have a great specialty clinic, a nearby aquarium and zoo (with an on-site clinic that's going to be opening in the near future), wildlife rehabbers, rescues up the wazoo... I think it would be relatively easy to score some very interesting speakers and trips. And everybody likes free food. Especially me. ;)

I'm done with classes there, so I wouldn't be able to run things, but there's a professor I think might be open to the idea. :xf:
 
Sounds like you're on to something there, CT. Be the change you want to see, right?
 
I'm the president of the pre-health organization on my campus. I joined so I could make it better, which wasn't hard to do considering the organization was focused on pre-meds and the leadership failed halfway through the year last year without doing anything worthwhile. It's been a long year, but I have tried focusing the meetings so that they'll help everyone, no matter the stage. The pre-health advisor gives okay advice, but is overwhelmed, so I'm pretty much treating meetings as some sort of advising so students aren't totally lost.

With that said, we held a successful 5k benefiting a local charity, have had professionals from the surrounding area come in, and will have two more guest speakers by the end of the year. The local hospital is not working with our students to allow pre-meds to get clinical experience, but we're trying to get something going. Taking all of this into account, if it were me (i.e. someone who looks up information on her own) I would leave the group if I walked into a meeting for the first time. The organization never did anything for me. However, to the average pre-health student who has no idea where to start, I think our meetings are generally helpful. Plus it's $15/yr and you get lunch every 2 weeks, so why not?
 
:( This makes me really sad!!! Do you still go here for undergrad??

I am a Senior here now, I went for my first semester as a junior and got that vibe...I never gave it another chance since then so it is very possible it has become better. For the sake of future UF pre-veters I hope it has. I'm glad you decided to hold an officer spot to change it for the better.
 
SDN is better than any pre-vet club that could ever be formed at my school :thumbup:
 
SDN is better than any pre-vet club that could ever be formed at my school :thumbup:

Agreed! New Foundland, but I do love my pre-vet club :)

We are a rather small group despite having a large asci department mainly due to the late evening meeting time and its not some people's cup of tea. We have weekly meetings with a meeting topic, club overview, and new ideas every week. We have done everything from Vet school visits, to dissections and sutures, to internship presentations and microbio lectures. We base our meetings around the interest of the club and we try to make it beneficial for everyone. It also can't hurt to put on your resume!
 
The pre-vet club I'm in is pretty cool. It's small but we get a lot of guest speakers. Once a quarter, we have a field trip to a zoo so that we could talk to the vets.
 
No pre-vet club at my school, but I don't feel as though it would be any good. Our pre-vet advisor is HORRIBLE (I ditched him partway through freshman year and am figuring out the process myself).

I'm president of our humane society club, where most of the pre-vets meet anyway. Too few of us to actually be competitive, lol.
 
I was a member of the pre-vet club at UTK, and I thought it was really good. They set up opportunities for us to volunteer/shadow at different departments in the vet school, which was very helpful. I also got to sit in on several surgeries through the club. Some meetings had vet students give their advice on interviews, undergrad classes, vet school life, etc.
 
I'm involved at the Pre-Vet Club at my school, but it is really difficult to get other students involved. We are a commuter school, so probably the vast majority of students are non-traditional who have full-time jobs and families and whatnot, and not a lot of time to stick around campus and hang out or do activities. I must say, though, that even the small amount of networking that I've been able to do by being a part of the club has been very beneficial to me so far. Before I joined I didn't know a single other pre-vet student, and now I have at least somewhat regular contact with several!
 
I tried to join the Pre-vet club at my school, emailed the president of and all to try and get times and meeting places for the club, all I heard back from her was she was not sure when their next meeting would be. Lets just say after that... I did not purse it much farther. :rolleyes:
 
At University of Miami, we have a pretty great, active organization. We've grown by something like 75% since my freshmen year, and its been the best resource (I didnt know about SDN until recently!). Its nice to hear from the seniors who got in things they did on their app, what they'd do differently, how to prep for interviews and generally make a competitive application.
We're also affiliated with Humane Society, Animal Services, Cat Network, and a bunch of other organizations in the Miami area to help members get varied experience. I definately would not have half the experience I have if not for the club. It's a ton of fun to give back too, I'm the Treasurer now, and I enjoy mentoring the younger kids to give them a better shot at things. It's tough out there, and we definately help each other out more than pre-meds!!! :p
 
Ours is iffy. They sometimes bring in interesting speakers, but from what I've seen, there's not a particular culture or good social group associated with it. There's also insane attrition over the years; the club is probably 75% freshman and it drops to maybe 5% seniors - not particularly useful for networking or learning about opportunities that the upperclassmen have pursued.

I echo the idea that SDN proves a much greater (and broader) knowledge-base than most pre-vet clubs, but unfortunately, it leaves something lacking in the real life social aspect. :)
 
I can't speak for other schools, nor can I speak for this clubs current officer management - but...
My experience with the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association at UNC Wilmington was AMAZING!!!
We had talks from Kaplan concerning GRE and interview tips.
We had talks from volunteers who travelled to third world countries to perform free spay/neuter/vaccinations.
We were involved with the local Friends of Felines and would participate in humanely caputuring and castrating feral cats in the Wilmington area - with supervision the students are actually trained to perform the neuters and some students even perform their first spays with the club under Dr. Wheedon's supervision (it is legal in NC).
They have suture clinics, where they teach the students how to perform surgical sutures.
They have fieldtrips to the zoo and the medical facility at the zoo.
They are involved with the local animal shelters.
They have a huge Rabies Day activity every year where the vaccinate any animal brought to them for rabies FOR FREE (one of the thing club dues went to was paying for rabies vaccines).
They were absolutely amazing, and when the family moved leaving them was the most heartbreaking thing I had to do.
 
I can't speak for other schools, nor can I speak for this clubs current officer management - but...
My experience with the Pre-Veterinary Medical Association at UNC Wilmington was AMAZING!!!
We had talks from Kaplan concerning GRE and interview tips.
We had talks from volunteers who travelled to third world countries to perform free spay/neuter/vaccinations.
We were involved with the local Friends of Felines and would participate in humanely caputuring and castrating feral cats in the Wilmington area - with supervision the students are actually trained to perform the neuters and some students even perform their first spays with the club under Dr. Wheedon's supervision (it is legal in NC).
They have suture clinics, where they teach the students how to perform surgical sutures.
They have fieldtrips to the zoo and the medical facility at the zoo.
They are involved with the local animal shelters.
They have a huge Rabies Day activity every year where the vaccinate any animal brought to them for rabies FOR FREE (one of the thing club dues went to was paying for rabies vaccines).
They were absolutely amazing, and when the family moved leaving them was the most heartbreaking thing I had to do.

Not to mention, you guys have really kick-ass shirts!
 
My undergrad school has a med school associated with it, so pretty much everybody there is pre-med. I guess one of the pre-med girls is trying to start a pre-AVMA club, but I couldn't help but roll my eyes and laugh when she sent an email out about needing to take the VCAT :rolleyes:

ETA -- needless to say, SDN is the only pre vet club I need :)
 
No pre-vet club at my undergrad. The pre-vet student was kinda a novelty. There were only two (myself included) that applied the year I did, and I never met any that were applying during my Freshman-Junior year.

The extent of my advising consisted of printing out the requirement sheet for LSU. Not much assistance, although I didn't know I was supposed to be advised, so I didn't feel put out. Of course, my advisor did have a heart attack at the end of my first semester, so he had reason. The replacement was mainly just to sign off on my class choices.

SDN would have been a big help, but I didn't find out about it until I had already submitted my application and was playing the waiting game.
 
If any of you club officers are looking for speakers, let me know. I love traveling and would be happy to come and give a presentation
 
Currently, my school has no pre-vet club. I'm meeting with the student orgs chair today to find out about starting one. This thread has a lot of great ideas for activities -- and pitfalls to watch out for. Thank you so much to everyone who replied.

I've never started any clubs and have been only marginally active in a few, so I'm sure this will be a learning experience for me. Honestly, I'm kind of terrified, because I'm not the most social/networky/leadery person, but I want other people to commiserate with (other than on SDN, haha) and I know if we work together, we can share opportunities we might otherwise not have. For example, I don't know any lab or LA vets, and have only a tiny bit of experience with anything bigger than a Great Dane, but I have connections with a big cat rescue, a wildlife sanctuary, and a great SA/small exotics vet, which other people might be hard-pressed to get in touch with. And having speakers from vet schools would be awesome! Jeff, I might be giving you a shout in a few weeks. :)
 
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Love the one here at OSU, where I am the Publicity Chair.

I have had an extremely different view of OSU's pre-vet club. The experiences they offered sounded great but the first meeting I went to, I felt like an outsider to a bunch of cliques. I tried going to another meeting and sat all by myself-- nobody said a word to me. Granted, I'm not the most socially outgoing, but I felt awkward and decided to do other things with my time which is why I dropped OSU's pre-vet club and paved my own way with experiences and organizations....

Everyone has different experiences. If a pre-vet club works for you-go for it.
 
I have had an extremely different view of OSU's pre-vet club. The experiences they offered sounded great but the first meeting I went to, I felt like an outsider to a bunch of cliques. I tried going to another meeting and sat all by myself-- nobody said a word to me. Granted, I'm not the most socially outgoing, but I felt awkward and decided to do other things with my time which is why I dropped OSU's pre-vet club and paved my own way with experiences and organizations....

Everyone has different experiences. If a pre-vet club works for you-go for it.

That's interesting. How long ago was this? I know it's changed a bit over the last several years. This is only my second year in the club because I went to a different school for my first two years, but I hear stories sometimes of the two years I wasn't there and prior to that things not being so good.

I think what has changed most is the leadership. We have an AWESOME group on the exec board right now who are passionate about veterinary medicine and about the club. There are at least 5 members of the exec board this year who have already gotten into vet school this year, and a couple more who are still interviewing and stuff. We work REALLY hard to bring in good speakers, provide volunteering and networking opportunities, and help our members prepare for applying to vet school in any way possible.

As for the cliques, well I never really noticed that. I too am kind of shy, and last year, before I was on the Exec board, I honestly didn't have any friends in Pre-Vet Club. I often sat by myself and went to the meetings for myself. I wasn't there to socialize, I was there to learn and that's what I did because there were plenty of opportunities. So even though I didn't really talk to anyone, it's not because people were being cliquey and TRYING to exclude me-it was because I wasn't putting myself out there and attempting to make friends. Once I ran for exec board and got more involved, I really started making friends. I am now extremely outgoing and I take every chance I get to make people feel involved and included.

Part of it too, is that members have to put in a little work to involve themselves. We have at least one social event per quarter. Most of the time these are free to dues-paying members, and we do things like go bowling, seeing a hockey game, or going to a horse farm to learn about equine medicine. We also have established volunteering programs with a low-cost spay/neuter clinic and the vet school, and we have fun fundraising events at least once per quarter. So members have to make the effort to attend these things, and then they'll feel more like a part of the club and will probably make some friends too. But people who don't even try to do these kinds of things and be more involved and then end up feeling left out didn't take advantage of these opportunies that we are providing. That's WHY the exec board puts so much time and effort and resources into planning and executing these events. We want people to have fun and get to know each other and learn something. But if we're going to go to all the trouble to include people, that needs to be reciprocated and people need to put in equal amounts of effort to include themeslves.

Edited to add: Also, this is why I say that if you don't like your pre-vet club, don't just dismiss it-join, run for office, make suggestions, try to CHANGE something. At OSU, all executive board meetings are open to the general members. Any general member can come in and make a suggestion, bring up an issue, whatever-and we'll try to come up with a plan to work on it. Last year, even though I loved pre-vet club, I noticed that as the year went on, attendance dwindled and there weren't many people coming anymore. I didn't like that. So I ran for publicity chair and was elected. My platform? Increase member interest and retention. Since becoming publicity chair, I have spoken to first-year animal science classes about pre-vet club, made and handed out brochures, and created a very active Facebook group. In previous years, the attendance at the first meeting has tended to be standing-room only, usually about 150+ people. When I became publicity chair, for the first time in at least 4 years attendance at the second meeting also topped 100 people. Typically around this time of year we're only getting 25-30 people coming. This year, we have around 50-75 per meeting. I'm sure there are other factors involved, but I'd like to think that my enthusiasm and efforts towards spreading the word and reminding people about meetings have something to do with this change. So it IS possible to make positive changes-you've just gotta get out there and do it! =)
 
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Hi everyone!
I have noticed a number of people have said that they don't have a club at their school and are interested in creating one. My name is Jessyca and I am on the executive board for APVMA, the American Pre-Veterinary Medical Association. I am starting a project where I would make a packet of information that would have everything a person would need to know about starting their own club. Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested and I will be sure to get this sent to you when it is available. If you don't want to personally start a club but want one at your school, email me anyways. Either way, include the name of your school and its location. For more information on the organization, visit my website at www.apvma.us.
Thanks!
Jessyca Allen
 
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