Idea Evolution

Five-year anniversary of veterinary summer day camp hits milestones.

By Wendy Barnes

Humble Beginnings

The summer of 2023 marked the five-year anniversary of Vet Med ROCKS, a recruitment and outreach club started in 2018 by Dr. Caroline Rost, assistant dean for admissions/ director of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and a then eager second-year student, Dr. Sarah Wilson, class of 2020. A staff veterinarian at Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City, Kansas, Dr. Wilson says she came up with the idea over Christmas break when she realized the K-State College of

Veterinary Medicine did not have an outreach club, unlike other veterinary medicine programs.

“I have always enjoyed teaching and being able to share knowledge, in general,” Dr. Wilson says. “Something I would do when I went home on breaks was put my lab coat on and a stethoscope on and go talk to the kids about veterinary medicine, which they all thought was fantastic.”

The stacks of thank-you cards she received after doing hometown presentations propelled Dr. Wilson to ask some classmates if they would be interested in forming a group focused on outreach. To her surprise, everyone was enthusiastic about the prospect. She found another unexpected ally — her father, Butch Wilson.

“My dad actually came up with the name for the club,” Dr. Wilson says. “We were sitting there, and I said, ‘What should we call it?’ He goes, ‘Vet Med ROCKS! Recruitment and Outreach Club of Kansas State.’ He’s really good at coming up with things like that, and it just came to him. I said, ‘That sounds perfect to me.’”

When taking this idea back to the college, she was put in touch with Dr. Rost, and the wheels of time moved forward with the creation of this new, exciting club meant to inspire young people to cultivate and maintain an interest in veterinary medicine.

During its first year, the club organized a day camp that welcomed 139 campers from Kansas and other surrounding states. Campers gathered for four days based on education level. One day of activities was allocated to each age group — elementary, middle school, high school and college — and modified to fit the group’s learning needs.

Change and Growth

“Every year since then, we try to do something a little different,” Dr. Rost says. “Because we have repeat campers, we want to give them a new experience in veterinary medicine. One year the theme was ‘Pick Your Adventure,’ so students got to say, ‘I’m interested in horses,’ so we put them on allequine experiences while they were here. Another year was ‘Specialties,’ so we focused on dentistry, ophthalmology and surgery. We shared details with campers on all the career possibilities veterinary medicine provides.”

Opposite and this page: Campers try a variety of hands-on skills during Vet Med ROCKS Day Camp. Photos by Wendy Barnes.

While the first camp experience was structured to emulate general veterinary medicine classes, and the second followed specific tracks, it has evolved to a more structured theme that changes each year to accommodate repeat campers. The 2023 camp welcomed several repeat campers, one of whom has attended the camp every year since it started in 2018. Emily Pierce, third-year student and 2023 chair, feels repeat campers make the experience more enjoyable. She says being able to recognize the campers, especially since they are only there for one day, adds to the enjoyment of the camp. Another perk of returning campers is they are more comfortable and help other campers get over the hump of not wanting to be the first to volunteer, especially the high schoolers.

“The ones who have come before are usually the ones who get everything going and get people interested and interacting,” Emily says. “That’s really beneficial because sometimes it’s hard to break the ice with them.”

Activities such as dissecting small sharks, turtles, stingrays and other animals also encourage participation and interaction. Looking at the previous year’s camper response surveys, Emily noticed a lot of people wanted to do dissections, so she worked with Dr. Pradeep Malreddy, clinical associate professor, to obtain specimens from special interest anatomy.

In 2023, campers attended lectures, labs and other day-today activities to simulate what veterinary students experience during their education.

“I thought about what I would have wanted to know about going into veterinary college,” Emily says. “I would like to know what being a veterinary student is like, so we picked the theme ‘A Day in the Life of a Vet Student.’”

Though the planning process and execution of the 2023 camps was time-consuming, Emily says it was the most fun she has had in veterinary school.

“It’s so rewarding to see and get people excited about veterinary medicine and all the different things you can do,” Emily says. “There’s so much more to it than what the public sees, so getting to show them all the cool things behind the scenes, and what we’re looking for, and why we do the things we do is fulfilling.”

The leadership experience and networking also helped prepare her and the other camp counselors for their future endeavors as veterinarians.

“It’s great practice for our students since one of the main roles of a veterinarian is educating clients,” Dr. Rost says. “Students who are just learning veterinary medicine create presentations and teach campers. Being a camp counselor allows veterinary students to develop confidence in communicating their knowledge to others.”

From camper to veterinary professional Camp has such a profound impact on some of the participants it steers them right to the college’s front doors to become future veterinarians.

First-year student Lauryn Mauler attended Vet Med ROCKS in 2019 and then again in 2020 when the camp was virtual. She says those experiences impacted her decision to apply to the college.

“I personally gained a lot more understanding of what is required of you in veterinary college,” Lauryn says. “They showed me how hard I should work in my undergraduate classes and then the fact that I will need to work even harder when I make it to veterinary college. It was also nice to talk to the veterinary students and learn more about what they did to get into veterinary college. Being able to see the college and see what I wanted to do in the future helped push me to go to Kansas State over any other veterinary college.”

Katherine Lewis, first-year student and member of the Early Admission Program, was also motivated by her experience at camp to make K-State her choice for veterinary college.

“Attending the Vet Med ROCKS camp, being on campus, and interacting with the current veterinary students definitely impacted my decision to apply for the Early Admission Program,” Katherine says. “Participating before my senior year motivated me to enter the school year with a driven goal and plan to apply for the Early Admission Program. Being a Kansas resident who had the vision of becoming a veterinarian on their mind for years, K-State is the ultimate destination.”

A Bright Future

Five years later, the camp experienced its largest group of in-person attendees with 235 young students eager to learn more about veterinary medicine and the veterinary college experience. Over the years, even while in the grips of COVID-19, the camp and club has continued to grow and expand its offerings.

Though the club is available to give presentations and lead other outreach events, camp will remain the focus of Vet Med

ROCKS. However, Dr. Rost hopes the veterinary students will follow the lead of founder, Dr. Sarah Wilson, and return to their hometowns to give presentations to the schools they attended as elementary students. She sees it as another way to connect with young students who may have an interest in veterinary medicine and keep them interested in the field.

Looking back, Dr. Wilson is pleased with the club’s track record.

“It’s so cool because it started so small and it’s grown so much,” Dr. Wilson says. “I love seeing how much it evolved.”

Like the club’s name says, Vet Med ROCKS.