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Only Zoomin’ Virtual events preserve sense of normalcy for veterinary college. Story by Joe Montgomery One of the most used – and most annoying – phrases of the last 12 months can be summed up in these three words: “Due to COVID-19.” Those three words have changed everyday life in ways that have been frustrating and challenging. The College of Veterinary Medicine has not been immune to the effects of COVID-19. Lockdowns, reduced social gatherings, handwashing, mask-wearing and extra cleaning have been the new rules to live by.
Quick thinking helps save the day When K-State students left for Spring Break in 2020, they did not return to campus until weeks later – and in some cases – months later. Kansas State University was left scrambling to determine how to proceed with some of its most essential functions and traditions, such as commencement exercises and events like the White Coat Ceremony. Due to the resiliency of the faculty and staff in the College of Veterinary Medicine, ingenuity and determination prevailed so that students would not completely lose these ceremonies nor have to postpone them indefinitely. Thanks to online platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, individuals in the college were still able to conduct classes and hold meetings. Drs. James Roush and Peggy Schmidt, respectively the interim and outgoing associate deans for academic programs and student success, started holding meetings with the alumni and events team: Tony Ballard and Sarah Keatley; computing and technical support: Bryan Kraus, Praveen Ramanan, Manickam Dhandapani, Wayne Michaels, Kent Nelson and Scott Morrill; administrative assistants: Staci Murray and Miranda Schremmer; and marketing and communications team members: Audrey Hambright and Joe Montgomery. Plans quickly developed for producing a combination of still images videos and online-conferencing options 12 | wildcatveterinarian
in which to hold both the White Coat Ceremony and Commencement.
White Coat Ceremony The first virtual event took place May 8 in place of the annual White Coat Ceremony. Since students were unable to be on campus due to limited operations status at Kansas State University, a meeting was held on Zoom so Dr. Elizabeth Davis, head of clinical sciences could formally welcome third-year students into the fourth year of studies, where the students begin clinical rotations. As part of the meeting, students recited the Pledge of Professionalism, but they would receive their white coats later, when they were able to return to the college. You can see video from this virtual ceremony here: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpX-2B4hj-k “In our new COVID impacted world we’ve learned many things,” Dr. Davis says. “We have adapted. We have learned to be remote, online, muted, unmuted. We have recognized the importance of bandwidth capacity and we try to use chat when we can. I think what we all learned is, despite the challenging times, with adversity, brings opportunity. And the greatest opportunity that we have had through the past few months is to learn about resilience.”
Commencement The college also used Zoom to celebrate its 2020 graduating class of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine students on May 15. A celebratory video with a listing of all the students is posted at the 2020 Commencement Page. This video includes a greeting from Dean Bonnie Rush; keynote address from Dr. Dan Thomson, former faculty member; remarks from Dr. Alexandra Allen, the 2020 class president; faculty messages; and a video collage of students reciting the veterinarian’s oath.