Welcome to the Penn Vet Class of 2030!

Penn Vet’s Class of 2030 is here, bringing with them a diversity of backgrounds and medical interests.

The aspiring veterinarians started to get acquainted with their new school at last week’s orientation – an annual tradition of Penn Vet swag, lots of food, the requisite class photo, and inspiration from a cadre of administrators.

Andrew M. Hoffman, the Gilbert S. Kahn Dean of Veterinary Medicine, a.k.a “The Troubadour,” delighted and amused the new students, strumming an acoustic guitar, wearing folksinger threads, and singing a tune about their new venture.

“You got this, you got this,” he crooned, as V’30 got into the spirit with an arena wave. “Be yourself and always be true. Become the doctor that’s inside of you! You’re all good, the best in your class

“And remember we’ll always love you…”

Swag, snacks, and an encouraging welcome

That was just the beginning of orientation, followed by campus tours, speakers, a networking lunch, and lots of activities. For the rest of the week, students had a chance to meet their new classmates and learn more about the adventures and challenges ahead of them over the next four years.

Penn Vet ’30 comprises 132 students out of a total of 1,688 applicants.

The class has 111 females and 21 males. Thirty-one hail from Pennsylvania, while 101 come from out of state. Their interests cross the veterinary spectrum.

Twenty-two of the new students have said they want to specialize in equine medicine, six in food animals, eight in large animals, and four in laboratory science. Thirty-eight are interested in mixed animal medicine, five want to pursue public health, three want to focus on research, and 38 want to go into small animal practice. Two students have said they want to treat special species, three want to be wildlife veterinarians, and another three want to care for zoo animals.

New faces, big hopes

Ethan Mendes, from Toronto and a graduate of Algoma University in Northern Ontario, said he’s wanted to be a veterinarian since early high school. He’s planning to specialize in mixed animal medicine.

“I love working with animals,” he said. “I enjoy the knowledge side of it, and I can find cures or fixes to issues.”

His family was a bit nervous, him going to a new country and all, but they’re excited, too.

“No one in my family is in the medical field at all,” he said.

But people have been welcoming, he said, and Dean Hoffman’s musical greeting was “surprising” and fun.

“I didn’t think the Dean was going to come out in a guitar shirt and sing us a song,” he said. “I’m a musical fan myself; I play drums. So, I enjoyed seeing a little fun side of him.”

So did Xaymara Rodriguez Torres, a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez.

“He’s awesome,” she said. “He reminded me of one of my professors from Mayagüez.”

She already has experience working in small-animal clinics. Plus, she did an internship in Costa Rica, “that opened my eyes’’ to possibly working with exotic species.

Eventually, she would like to help the large population of stray pets back home, as well as people who have difficulty affording veterinary care.

“I’d like to help out with the veterinary shortage on the island because it’s not very accessible to everyone,” she said. “It’s very expensive, so there are a lot of underserved areas and communities that I would like to reach.”

Madeleine Mosteiro of Maplewood, N.J., said she’s always wanted to be a veterinarian, but some advisors at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, which she attended as an undergraduate, encouraged students to consider all options.

“We had a lot of animal science students who wanted to go to vet school, and they (the advisors) told them, ‘Only a small number of you guys will actually go to vet school,’” she said. “You have to open your eyes to other possibilities.”

By the time she was getting ready to graduate, however, Mosteiro was sure.

“Towards the end of my college career, when I told them, no, this is what I want to do,” she said, “they were definitely helpful and encouraging.”

All the students were aware they have a lot hard work ahead of them, but they were psyched to begin. And as Hoffman’s playful tune told them, they are here because Penn Vet believes in them and is committed to helping them succeed.