When a group of students discovered that Georgia State did not offer an organization for pre-veterinary students to network in, they were shocked. They decided that a public research university with the second-largest enrollment in the state needed an organization for pre-vet students to learn more about their interests.
The Pre-Veterinary Medicine Professional Society (PVPS), the first of its kind on campus in nearly 13 years, has now been established at Georgia State.
The purpose of PVPS is to promote the interest of the field of veterinary medicine and to acquaint the members with different aspects of veterinary medicine, according to the PVPS official Facebook page.
In 2012, the founding executive board consisted of President Preeti Gulve, Vice President Brea Echard, VP for Finance and Budgeting Shalin Jyotishi, VP for Public Relations Emily Osbourne and VP for Communications (current president) Summer Mashayekh.
“I joined the club because I have always wanted to be a veterinarian and anything involved or related to veterinary studies is something I wanted to be a part of,” junior biology major Elisabeth Swan said.
Swan went from being a member since the club was first established to the official event coordinator for the PVPS last semester.
Swan also said that she believes that the PVPS has made an impact on all biology majors, those who have already decided on what they want to do or are undecided.
“Most biology students are aimed towards med school, but the other people who are set on veterinary school have no idea what to expect or some of the requirements needed to get into vet school. The club has opened the doors for students to get involved with either volunteer work or apply for internships dealing with veterinarians or other animal-related work,” Swan said.
Shalin Jyotishi, who is currently attending the University of Georgia, agrees that the PVPS provides a lot of opportunity for pre-vet students.
“There are lots of networking opportunities that our club has done. These types of opportunities probably may have not been as feasible at other schools,” Jyotishi said.
Some of these networking opportunities include a possible tour of Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Lawrenceville next fall and a tour of Zoo Atlanta.
“This is really unique because of proximity in relation to Georgia State University students. Dr. Sam Rivera from the Atlanta zoo was actually one of our first speakers at the PVPS,” Jyotishi said.
The PVPS said that the group organizers have had guest speakers and volunteer activities similar to other groups on campus.
However, the group is unique because it is the only organization that performs in-lab sessions, such as animal dissections outside of a traditional college classroom. Some of the dissected animals include squids, snakes and turtles.
“Dissecting these animals outside of the classroom is really unique, because usually it’s considered curriculum based. Not many organizations have the ability to do those things,” Jyotishi said. “We were able to do that because of Dr. Reber.”
Swan thinks the dissections provide an opportunity for students to really see if going to veterinary school is in their future.
“The fact that the PVPS does have a dissection every semester is a real eye-opener for those who may have never dissected anything, and from there they are able to see if they really want to go into vet school,” Swan said.
Jyotishi also said UGA has a vet program, but the members of the PVPS club there do not have dissections.
“UGA does not have the sections to do outside curriculum-based activities, such as dissecting animals, whereas Georgia State does. That’s pretty significant because UGA has a pre-vet program. I think this will attract a lot of students interested in zoology, veterinary medicine, even neuroscience,” Jyotishi said.
He further explained why he believed the PVPS was innovative in its approach to reach out to students.
“We want to build this community and have this unity,” he said.
Jyotishi also said that the PVPS is doing is doing more than just focusing on pre-vet students.
“I’d really like to convey the message of ‘Don’t always rely on President Becker or your professors for all of your academic enrichment.’ Students should come up with innovative ideas on their own,” Jyotishi said. “Google was created by two doctoral students at Stanford. It’s how Zuckerburg created Facebook at Harvard.”
He advised students to utilize the resources available to them on campus.
“That’s what I’d like the PVPS to represent. Our dissections, the fact that we’re the first pre-vet group to grace the campus in over a decade despite our enrollment and the enrollment of STEM majors. The point should be that students should build their campus and their experience,” Jyotishi said.
Great article!