{"id":147,"date":"2015-01-12T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/?p=147"},"modified":"2025-01-23T09:59:52","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T17:59:52","slug":"exceptional-veterinarians-exceptional-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/2015\/01\/12\/exceptional-veterinarians-exceptional-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Exceptional Veterinarians, Exceptional Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter 2015 Issue<\/a><\/p>\n

by Marcia Hill Gossard ’99, ’04 Ph.D.<\/em> | Photos by Henry Moore, Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n

For Jessica Scherr of Great Falls, Montana, choosing WSU for veterinary school was easy. The daughter of a veterinarian, Scherr had grown up with veterinary medicine all her life. When she learned the Washington-Idaho-Montana-Utah (WIMU, pronounced WE-moo) regional program<\/a> in veterinary medicine offered in-state tuition and would keep her closer to home, she knew it was right for her. And having a class size of only 11 sealed the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the small class size, we get more hands-on experiences,\u201d said Scherr. \u201cI\u2019ve gotten more hands-on experience than I could have ever imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

What wasn\u2019t so easy was starting in a new, highly demanding veterinary program. But getting an opportunity to participate in the Cougar Orientation Leadership Experience<\/a>, known as COLE, made all the difference for the start of her first year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hard when you go to a new school,\u201d says Scherr, whose first year is in Bozeman, Montana\u2014450 miles away from the Pullman campus. \u201cSo meeting faculty, new students, and older students was great. It was cool to meet some of the faculty because I won\u2019t see them until next year [in Pullman].\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether starting in Montana, Utah, Idaho, or Pullman, all first year veterinary students begin their year at COLE, an off-site retreat designed to promote leadership skills and team building. The experiential learning curriculum includes exercises by trained facilitators to help incoming veterinary students understand more about themselves\u2014how they think, how they work with others, how they connect and solve problems, says Dr. Rick DeBowes, one of the program\u2019s founders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped me learn how to communicate better with others,\u201d says Scherr. \u201cI have an outgoing personality and am strong willed so I like to get my ideas across. I learned that I may need to stay in the background and let others take the lead and then see if my ideas match up.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also gave her an opportunity to meet current students and get to know the other students in her graduating class. Jessica Scherr (\u201918 DVM) from Montana. She is currently interested in small animal medicine. \u201cJust knowing that everyone is going through the same things helped,\u201d says Scherr. \u201cIt was a great learning and bonding opportunity to welcome me to WSU.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Veterinary<\/a>
Rian Calugcugan (’15 DVM) from Hawaii. After graduation, he plans to return to Hawaii and work in marine animal and exotic veterinary medicine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These valuable experiences don\u2019t end after the first year. Rian Calugcugan (\u201915 DVM), who will graduate this spring, found that his experiences at COLE as a first year student and later as a mentor shaped him throughout his time as a veterinary student.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe COLE program had a major impact in my life,\u201d says Calugcugan. \u201cEach year I was there, I discovered more about myself as a person and I got to share that with people I mentored throughout the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

And this kind of leadership and communication training gives WSU veterinarians an edge in the job market.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessional students need these skills to thrive in the highdemand world of medical service,\u201d says DeBowes. \u201cResearch shows that individuals who have high levels of emotional intelligence also have positive impacts and outcomes in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Calugcugan, he knows what he learned at COLE will help him as he begins his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cCOLE gave me strong leadership skills I never realized I had,\u201d says Calugcugan. \u201cIt also helped me become a better communicator and empathetic person, which are all characteristics I think a great veterinarian needs to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about Cougar Orientation Leadership Experience<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Jessica Scherr of Great Falls, Montana, choosing WSU for veterinary school was easy. The daughter of a veterinarian, Scherr had grown up with veterinary medicine all her life. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1015,"featured_media":675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":null},"categories":[511],"tags":[619,614],"wsuwp_university_location":[332],"wsuwp_university_org":[425],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1015"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4046,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions\/4046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=147"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}