Year 11 Summer School 2018
For three days at the end of August, 30 year 11 students had the chance to visit the Royal Veterinary College. They were there to learn more about careers with animals and get some excellent experience including clinical skills, animal handling, and lectures from experts in their field.
After meeting all of our new visitors, and introducing the student ambassadors (who all explained their journeys to study at the RVC), the students were taken to the lab with Dr Laureen Peters, a lecturer in clinical pathology. They used their new knowledge to figure out where some mystery specimens came from, and even figuring out what might be wrong with some patients.
It was a busy first day for the students, as after a short break they also got to hear about PhD student Winnie Ntao-Boahene's journey into working with antifungals.
In the morning of the second day, the students met the Dawn Dinos team, starting with a short lecture about paleobiology; when did dinosaurs roam the earth, and how did they become successful? The team believes the answer may lie in the 'Locomotor superiority hypothesis', basically they moved better than their competitors.
It was then off to the lab to test out this theory, complete with 3D printed bone specimens, and some funny walks.
Again we packed in plenty of experience for them, with PhD student Kate Mellor telling us all about antibiotic resistance, Dr Nicola Blackie explaining farming practices with 'unusual' animals such as alpaca, deer and ostrich. We finished the day with Dr Madeleine Campbell discussing the importance of ethics when working with animals, and our students had the chance to debate on the topic of cloning animals.
On the finial day we took the students to our on site farm; Boltons Park, where they learnt about farm practices, what their future work experience might entail, and who lives at the farm. They also looked at husbandry of animals like goats, pigs and alpaca, and had the chance to learn how to properly handle a chicken.
Our chickens are egg layers, and the student ambassadors demonstrated the correct way to hold them and check their health.
Thankfully it was a lovely sunny day, so we walked back to the RVC Hawkshead campus for lunch, getting ready to get stuck in at our clinical skills centre. Dr Nikki Coombes, head of the centre, allowed us to showcase the facility which is open to students 24/7. There RVC students can practice any of their clinical skills, and our student ambassadors demonstrated how to properly glove and gown in a sterile manner, and how to bandage an animal.
Throughout the three days we were extremely pleased by how engaged the students were, and we hope we have given them the information they need to make informed decisions about their future paths as they start their A level years.
A special thanks to all staff and student ambassadors involved!