Economic Issues Essay Contest

Here's yet another shot at some free money! 

Economics are a part of our daily lives, involving everything from taking out loans to deciding whether we want to buy a $2 soda or a $3 piece of pizza.  Economics will also play a part in our professional lives when determining treatment plans, business plans, and more! 

Your friendly SAVMA Economics and Professional Development Committee wants to hear from you!

What:  An essay, 1000 words or less, describing an economic issue affecting veterinary students and/or the veterinary profession as a whole.  Be sure to include at least one idea regarding how the issue may be confronted. 

For:  A chance to win one of the $250 prizes!!  The top two essays will receive $250.  While writing your essay, you can also think of the many economic opportunities you could apply that to!

Who to send to: SAVMA Economics and Personal Development Committee savma.epdc@gmail.com

Deadline:  December 1^st, 2010

International Veterinary Exchange Committee Scholarships

Are you planning a grand trip to another country to learn about veterinary medicine? Want a chance at some easy cash to help pay for the trip? Look no further than here, with your International Veterinary Exchange Committee!

The IVEC is offering three individual international travel student scholarships, $500 each AND one IVSA Club Awards, $500. The club award is available for International Veterinary Student Association (IVSA) chapters for events and activities related to international vet med.

Deadlines: Individual scholarship and IVSA Club Award applications are due February 1st, 2011

Applications will be posted on the SAVMA IVEC website soon: http://www.avma.org/noah/members/savma/committees/internat.asp

Questions about this opportunity can be sent to: ivecscholarships@gmail.com

Help Host an International Student Exchange!

On behalf of the SAVMA International Veterinary Exchange Committee, we would like to take this opportunity to invite you to participate in a national contest. Currently, the International Veterinary Exchange Committee is trying to update its database of potential U.S. Veterinarian Hosts – those veterinarians who would be interested in hosting an international veterinary student at their clinic.

We would like to involve all schools and IVSA Chapters in increasing the database for the Host Program

and are offering two monetary gifts for the individual student and overall IVSA Chapter (if there is no

current IVSA Chapter funds at the winning school, the SCAVMA Chapter will be awarded the funds) who

provide the most names of potential Host Veterinarians. The individual student who obtains the most

veterinarians for the database will receive a $125 scholarship and the overall IVSA chapter that provides

the most veterinarians to the database will receive a $125 scholarship.

As your fellow students prepare for internships, externships, and mentorships, it would be a perfect

time to encourage all members of IVSA chapters, along with the general student body, to invite

veterinarians to participate in the Host Program.

The process is easy! Contact your SAVMA delegate for more information and to get the forms to provide to interested veterinarians. Those interested veterinarians should fill out the forms completely and send

them back to the International Exchange Officer by email, fax or post.

All names are due to the International Exchange Officer and even though names will be continuously

added to the Host List, the contest will cease on July 1, 2011.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact the International Veterinary Exchange Committee

or the International Exchange Officer. You can find more information at http://www.avma.org/savma/ieo/get-involved.asp.

Best Advice Essay Contest

Here's a shot at some free money and a chance to put your thoughts into words. SAVMA's Education and Professional Development Committee presents the Best Advice Essay Contest 2010.

The question is: "What is the best piece of advice you have gathered from a mentor/teacher for getting through veterinary school, the profession, or clinics and why?"

These essays should be no longer than 500 words and we are looking for:
- a brief synopsis of when and how the advice was given
- who gave you the advice
- how it has affected you in your veterinary career

In addition, please provide us with a title that either summarizes the advice or is the advice itself.

The winner will receive $100 and the runner-up will receive $50. Your submission will also be published here on The Vet Gazette. 

Best Advice Essays should be submitted electronically to joannemh@vt.edu by Monday, October 25^th, 2010.  Submissions will be reviewed by the EPDC and announced before the end of the fall semester.

Please be sure to include you name, email address, and school on your submission, and have “EPDC Best Advice” in the subject heading.

Any questions can be directed to joannemh@vt.edu.

Thanks for participating!

All Kinds of Updates!

Well, the Student AVMA House of Delegates meeting at AVMA Convention in Atlanta went very well and the dust is finally settling from my trip. Unpacking and laundry can really take some effort!

I wanted to let you all know about the millions of updates I've made to the site. You'll find the most exciting update on the "upcoming topics" page. The prize money available for your submissions has increased dramatically. In most of the categories you could win $100 for having a best submission, the school with the most submissions will win $250 for their SCAVMA chapter, and the best overall submission will receive $150. By shifting money around in The Vet Gazette budget, I was able to increase the prize money by quite a bit, with $1250 available for winning with each issue!

Other important updates can be found to your right. I've added a ton of useful links for all kinds of interests. There is a new AVMA database of wildlife, conservation and zoo opportunities (great for 4th year rotations or next summer's experiences.) If you're looking for other opportunities, in the US or abroad, there are links on the right for those as well. A group of the links will get you to the many SAVMA and AVMA Facebook groups so you can stay connected in your news feed. The One Health Challenge this year is Obesity Awareness, and next year will be Vector Borne Diseases. Check out that link to find out how you can get involved with your community or to start an event of your own.

Spread the word about The Vet Gazette, send in your submissions, check out the links, and let me know what you think!