Welcoming Our Future Colleagues: TVMF’s Sponsor a Student Program

The first few days of veterinary school are a blur of excitement and anticipation for new students as they prepare to face the upcoming challenge of the next four years. During new student orientation, TVMF helps to welcome our future colleagues by presenting each first-year student with a new Littmann Classic III stethoscope. This TVMF tradition provides a statement of support and a warm welcome into this incredible profession many have dreamed about since childhood. This year is especially exciting because not only are we celebrating the 10-year anniversary of this tradition but in addition to the 180 incoming students at the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine (TAMU-CVM), we also are welcoming 60 new students at the Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine (TTU-SVM). Our goal is to raise $18,000 to provide stethoscopes for both schools as we welcome our future colleagues.

The stethoscope presentation is an amazingly thoughtful gesture that shows incoming veterinary students that their colleagues in the field are rooting for their success. As Dr. Geoff Bratton of Holt Veterinary Clinic in Dallas recently told us, “I am proud to contribute to the TVMF Sponsor a Student Program! Veterinary students are my future colleagues and coworkers, and I always want them to know they have a large family of friends and mentors waiting to welcome them into the profession after graduation. I also hope that through TVMF’s generosity, veterinary students will become aware of all that TVMF and TVMA can do to support them in their careers.” 

Recent Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine graduate, Dr. Serene Yu and her parents

If you have already donated to the Sponsor a Student program, thank you! Reflecting on her TVMF stethoscope, fourth-year veterinary student Serene Yu, Class of 2021, said, “The TVMF stethoscopes are so special to me, not only because we use them every day throughout vet school but because on day one of vet school we already felt supported by a community of veterinarians. These donations help shape our careers every day.”

If you have not yet donated, TVMF invites you to connect with and support the next generation of veterinarians by becoming a part of this annual tradition. Your gift of $100 or more* will sponsor the purchase of a stethoscope for an incoming student in the class of 2025. You can accompany your donation of a stethoscope with a brief, encouraging message for the student. The contribution of a personalized note and connection to a supportive colleague will make the gift more meaningful and exciting for the future veterinarians joining our profession. 

Prospective veterinary students touring the new Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine

*Additional donation amounts above the stethoscope sponsorship will be placed in TVMF’s Emergency Student Grant fund and the Philanthropy Scholarship fund. If you are interested in contributing to an endowment to permanently fund the gift of these stethoscopes, please contact Danielle Madrid for more information at dmadrid@tvma.org or 512-452-4224.