Discover that Helping Others Doesn't Always Mean Helping People

It was my first job at an emergency vet clinic, and I just fell in love with it. I'd helped to save two animals that had been hit by cars and adopted a kitten found deserted in the middle of Highway 24. And that was just my first few weeks on the job. Since my sophomore year, I'd thought I might want to be a vet, but now I was convinced.

Actually, I started veterinary school this fall. It's really exciting because I'm attending Ohio State and it's hard to get in. A lot of people don't realize that vet school is just as hard to get into as medical school. In fact, in vet school you have to learn much more -- instead of just human anatomy, it's the cow, sheep, pig, horse, dog, cat, rabbit, birds, and on and on.

Academically and personally, Guilford couldn't have prepared me any better for this. Classes are small enough that you really connect with the professors. And some of my professors were amazing -- it's like their enthusiasm was contagious. Frank Keegan, my human disease teacher, taught me things I still think of every time I step into a cafeteria. Lynn Moseley, a real bird fanatic, taught about North Carolina's barrier islands and always related things to the birds. Now that I live on the coast, I'm not exaggerating when I say I can identify almost every bird I see.

Sports -- An active part of campus life: Guilford is an NCAA Division III member where more than one-fourth of the traditional-student population participates in sports. Jennifer Pue-Gilchrist was able to play volleyball while she pursued a challenging academic curriculum that prepared her for veterinary school. Another plus: Guilford's peer mentor program matches first-year student athletes with sophomores from their sport to help ease their transition to college life.

Even more importantly, I've always felt comfortable asking questions during class or approaching my professors for advice. Some kids come from Carolina or State and other huge schools, go on to graduate school, get lost in class and they won't go and talk to the professor. That's not a problem for me.

In fact, I went bawling to two of my professors when I got accepted to Ohio State. I really needed their advice. I knew it was a good school, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go so far away. I guess I was scared. I'd made a big move once before -- when I came to North Carolina from my home in Canada. My teachers encouraged me to look at how I grew from that move. I thought of all I'd experienced at Guilford -- being away from my family, finding a career that's perfect for me, meeting people from all over the world and experiencing a community with real diversity.

Needless to say, in the end I decided to accept my offer at veterinary school and I'm pretty psyched about it. Looking ahead, I think one of the most valuable lessons I learned at Guilford was just to be who I am, wherever I am. You can have meaningful relationships -- like many I had on campus -- with anyone, even if they're your teacher or someone very different from you. So I guess in this way, whether I'm dealing with animals or people, a little bit of Guilford will always be with me.