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Unconventional paths, student life, and leadership with Holli Heim · My Veterinary Life

0:10
Speaker 1: Welcome to this week's episode of the My Veterinary Life podcast.
0:13
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dr. Annie Chavant, and my pronouns are she, her.
0:17
Speaker 1: And our guest today is Holly Heim. Holly is a
0:20
Speaker 1: first-year student at Lincoln Memorial University's Harrogate campus and SAVMA
0:24
Speaker 1: chapter president-elect. I am so excited to share Holly's story today,
0:28
Speaker 1: but before we do, I want to give a thank
0:30
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0:34
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0:41
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0:48
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0:52
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1:17
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1:24
Speaker 2: And with that, welcome to the show, Holly.
1:25
Speaker 3: Hi, thank you for having me.
1:28
Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing your time with us.
1:30
Speaker 1: I cannot wait to hear about your career story so far,
1:35
Speaker 1: but let's start at the very beginning.
1:37
Speaker 2: So how did you first become interested in vet med? Yeah.
1:40
Speaker 3: So I took the most roundabout way possible. I started
1:45
Speaker 3: as a kennel tech right out of high school. Had
1:47
Speaker 3: no clue that I even wanted to be a veterinarian.
1:50
Speaker 3: Hadn't ever thought about it before. Just got the job
1:53
Speaker 3: because it was close to my junior college. It worked
1:55
Speaker 3: with my college schedule. And I was like, oh, I'll
1:57
Speaker 3: just play with dogs all day. That'll be fine. It'll
1:59
Speaker 3: be great. Quickly learned that that was not the job description.
2:03
Speaker 3: Had a really negative experience in the clinic just with
2:06
Speaker 3: workplace environment and personalities. Left veterinary medicine. I was like,
2:11
Speaker 3: this is not for me. Ended up as a bridal stylist. Sidetracked.
2:16
Speaker 3: Don't know how we got there. Changed my major about
2:19
Speaker 3: eight times. Then dropped out of college. Was like, I
2:23
Speaker 3: don't like it. I'm not finding anything. All of my
2:26
Speaker 3: buddies were about to graduate, had figured their life out.
2:30
Speaker 3: And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing.
2:33
Speaker 3: I had a friend who worked at a low-cost spay
2:36
Speaker 3: and neuter clinic. And she said, hey, we just need
2:39
Speaker 3: a receptionist. And I said, great, I'll take a little
2:41
Speaker 3: gap from college. I'll go just be a receptionist, figure
2:44
Speaker 3: some things out before I keep paying money for school.
2:47
Speaker 3: Started being a receptionist for them. Ended up working my
2:50
Speaker 3: way up to running the vaccine clinic for them, which
2:53
Speaker 3: I absolutely loved. So I realized, you know, this is
2:57
Speaker 3: something that I could see myself doing. So I was like,
2:59
Speaker 3: I'm going to go get my veterinary technician license. But
3:03
Speaker 3: I don't want to leave this job that I love
3:05
Speaker 3: so much to go do the program. So I'm going
3:07
Speaker 3: to do it online. With online programs, there's typically an
3:11
Speaker 3: externship that you have to do so they can show
3:13
Speaker 3: that you know how to do the skills that you're learning.
3:16
Speaker 3: And I needed a full service clinic for that. Luckily,
3:19
Speaker 3: there was a clinic about 13 minutes from my house
3:21
Speaker 3: that said, sure, come in on your day off. You
3:23
Speaker 3: can shadow. We'll help you fill out your forms and
3:26
Speaker 3: get your skills done. So that was my first experience
3:29
Speaker 3: in a full-service clinic that did everything. And I absolutely
3:33
Speaker 3: loved it. I loved the problem solving. I loved just
3:38
Speaker 3: the communication with the clients, the client education aspect of it.
3:41
Speaker 3: And I thought, okay, this is actually something I really
3:44
Speaker 3: want to do. But I've got a bunch of C's
3:47
Speaker 3: and D's from junior college. There's no way I'm ever
3:50
Speaker 3: going to get into vet school. I don't know why
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Speaker 3: I would even try. And that's when the veterinarian at
3:55
Speaker 3: that clinic sat me down for my 90-day review working
3:59
Speaker 3: with them and was like, you're too smart. You are
4:01
Speaker 3: limiting yourself. You need to go back to school and
4:04
Speaker 3: figure some things out. And so that was summer of 2023.
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Speaker 3: I went back, enrolled at a four-year college, was still
4:12
Speaker 3: living at home, working 40 hours a week, driving 45
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Speaker 3: minutes to take classes, finished my bachelor's degree in December
4:20
Speaker 3: of 2025, and then started at LMU in January of 2026.
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Speaker 2: Wow.
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Speaker 1: I am so glad that you're able to share that
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Speaker 1: story because it really underscores that there are so many
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Speaker 1: ways to get into this profession and also how people
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Speaker 1: can really make all the difference. Whether you've got that
4:42
Speaker 1: supportive environment or that person to encourage you to go
4:47
Speaker 1: for the thing that you've been thinking about or not,
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Speaker 1: that really has a big impact on us.
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Speaker 2: And we kind of can see that in both ways
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Speaker 2: in your story.
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Speaker 1: So I'm glad you made it back to vet med
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Speaker 1: and had the grit to do that as well.
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Speaker 2: And so glad that you are here at LMU now.
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Speaker 3: It all works out in the end, but it was
5:10
Speaker 3: definitely a rocky road getting here.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
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Speaker 1: So the path to veterinary school was not direct, but
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Speaker 1: that is where you ended up.
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Speaker 2: And so I'd love to ask a little bit about
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Speaker 2: that process too. How did you decide where to go
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Speaker 2: for vet school?
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Speaker 3: Yeah. So I am originally from Texas. So obviously applied
5:32
Speaker 3: to my Texas schools, applied. I applied to a lot
5:34
Speaker 3: of schools. Actually, I was not super selective in that
5:37
Speaker 3: application process. A lot of that, I think, goes back
5:40
Speaker 3: to I just didn't have the confidence that I would
5:42
Speaker 3: even get into school. I was fortunate enough to actually
5:45
Speaker 3: receive a couple of offers of acceptance. So then I
5:48
Speaker 3: kind of had to sit back and think, oh, wait,
5:51
Speaker 3: I get to choose now?
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Speaker 2: Which one?
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Speaker 3: And so then I started looking. Location was a big
5:56
Speaker 3: thing for me. I grew up in a super rural
5:59
Speaker 3: area of Texas. I've never really lived in a super
6:02
Speaker 3: big city. So I was a little nervous about that
6:05
Speaker 3: shell shock of if I moved to a big city,
6:07
Speaker 3: like I don't know how to function in a big city.
6:10
Speaker 3: And so I wanted a school that was maybe a
6:12
Speaker 3: little outside of city limits, if possible, or at least
6:15
Speaker 3: where I could live kind of on the outskirts and
6:17
Speaker 3: maybe commute in. Also wanted a school that aligned with
6:20
Speaker 3: my values. And I think that's so important. Finding somewhere
6:23
Speaker 3: you're going to spend your next four years here, potentially
6:26
Speaker 3: longer if you do PhD or anything extra like that.
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Speaker 3: You want it to be enjoyable. It's already going to
6:31
Speaker 3: be hard enough. So let's make sure the personalities match.
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Speaker 3: For me, that was serving rural communities. I wanted a
6:37
Speaker 3: school that was focused on giving back to the community,
6:40
Speaker 3: focused on had some large animal opportunities. I am a
6:43
Speaker 3: large animal girly. And this is kind of where LMU
6:46
Speaker 3: started to stand out for me. They are in located
6:48
Speaker 3: in rural Appalachia. So we are East Tennessee. extremely small,
6:53
Speaker 3: close-knit community. And they do a lot to give back
6:55
Speaker 3: to the community. There's a lot of large animal focus
6:58
Speaker 3: with them as well, which I absolutely love. And then
7:01
Speaker 3: my third point was I wanted a distributive clinical year.
7:06
Speaker 3: I liked the more kind of realistic side of the
7:08
Speaker 3: distributive model. I also love traveling. So distributive, I get
7:12
Speaker 3: to go all over the country, which is a big
7:14
Speaker 3: plus for me. LMU had an open house event at
7:17
Speaker 3: the And that's when everything kind of started clicking into place.
7:22
Speaker 3: I found a wonderful house that I absolutely love five
7:25
Speaker 3: minutes from the school. Hudson, which is my husband, did
7:28
Speaker 3: an interview. First interview he ever did, he got the job.
7:32
Speaker 3: So it was extremely easy in that sense. Everything kind
7:36
Speaker 3: of clicked in. So it felt more and more like
7:39
Speaker 3: it was the right decision to come here. Also, the
7:41
Speaker 3: area is absolutely gorgeous, which didn't hurt. It just fits
7:46
Speaker 3: so well.
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Speaker 2: Amazing.
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Speaker 1: I am so glad that you found your fit and
7:53
Speaker 1: went through the exercise of defining your own values and
7:58
Speaker 1: doing your research about places that might fit that because
8:01
Speaker 1: you are 100% right. You're going to be spending a
8:04
Speaker 1: lot of time.
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Speaker 2: At school.
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Speaker 1: And so let's think about some of those factors that
8:09
Speaker 1: are beyond the stats on the piece of paper or
8:13
Speaker 1: whatever you're doing for that initial search. So I love
8:16
Speaker 1: that you had your criteria and that you were able
8:19
Speaker 1: to find the.
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Speaker 2: School for you. So you found your fit.
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Speaker 1: It looked great on the outside.
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Speaker 2: Now you're on the inside. Is there anything that surprised
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Speaker 2: you so far?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's a lot of things that surprised you.
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Speaker 3: I was I was terrified starting. I was like, I
8:37
Speaker 3: don't know anybody. I'm not going to make friends. I'm
8:39
Speaker 3: not a super outgoing person. I can get into those timeframes,
8:43
Speaker 3: but it's kind of hard for me. And I was
8:46
Speaker 3: so surprised by how quickly you make those friendships. Actually,
8:50
Speaker 3: the night before orientation, we had a like a class
8:53
Speaker 3: wide group chat, which I think is so important for
8:55
Speaker 3: incoming cohorts to do. And it was a thing that
8:58
Speaker 3: someone sent out like, hey, let's all go get dinner.
9:01
Speaker 3: And I think about 20, 25 of us went and
9:04
Speaker 3: got dinner and I didn't know anybody. And I went
9:06
Speaker 3: and I sat and we had dinner and I talked
9:08
Speaker 3: to people and I made little connections. And then the
9:11
Speaker 3: next day at orientation, you see those faces and you're like,
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Speaker 3: I had dinner with you last night. You're safe to
9:15
Speaker 3: sit with. And you talk and orientations typically do a
9:18
Speaker 3: great job of getting the icebreakers and stuff out of
9:20
Speaker 3: the way as well. But just kind of already having that,
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Speaker 3: like I knew someone I could sit next to and
9:25
Speaker 3: it would be okay was just so amazing. It's also,
9:29
Speaker 3: I mean, you come into vet school and you have,
9:31
Speaker 3: I mean, everyone's a bit, has a bit of resilience
9:34
Speaker 3: because we've gone through the Vimcast, Tim Das, if you've
9:37
Speaker 3: done Texas, which is its own personal little thing. So
9:41
Speaker 3: you have this resilience already and you come in and
9:44
Speaker 3: you are the analogy of the drinking from a fire hose.
9:48
Speaker 3: Nothing could be more accurate for vet school. The amount
9:52
Speaker 3: of information that's presented to you is astronomical. But it's
9:57
Speaker 3: surprising how quickly you can actually pick that up. Like
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Speaker 3: I mentioned earlier, I have a renal physiology exam after
10:04
Speaker 3: this today. And that's something that I started studying for that.
10:09
Speaker 3: And I did not know the difference between the renal
10:12
Speaker 3: pelvis versus like the afferent arteriole. And now I'm like
10:17
Speaker 3: looking back and I was like, oh, that's so obvious.
10:19
Speaker 3: Like I've got that down. And so I think we
10:21
Speaker 3: just surprise ourselves with how quickly we adapt and we
10:24
Speaker 3: can figure out that information. Another thing that was really
10:27
Speaker 3: surprising is how fast your interest can evolve. I came
10:32
Speaker 3: into vet school. I was like, I'm going to be
10:33
Speaker 3: a large animal veterinarian. I am going to go through
10:36
Speaker 3: my four years. I'm going to leave these four years
10:38
Speaker 3: and I'm going to go work back in my rural
10:40
Speaker 3: clinic back home. That was my plan. I had no
10:44
Speaker 3: other plans. aspirations. Now that I've been in vet school,
10:48
Speaker 3: I've had the opportunity to do some summer research. Absolutely
10:51
Speaker 3: fell in love with it. I got to go to
10:54
Speaker 3: Wisconsin to present research. I get to go to Portugal
10:57
Speaker 3: in January to present research. Opportunities that I never even
11:00
Speaker 3: would have considered for myself. And now I'm thinking, okay, well,
11:04
Speaker 3: maybe I won't just be veterinarian at this clinic back home.
11:08
Speaker 3: Maybe I'll do research as well. Maybe I'll go do
11:11
Speaker 3: a residency. And so I'm like looking at those other
11:13
Speaker 3: things that I never would have even considered coming into
11:16
Speaker 3: vet school. And now I'm a year in and it's already,
11:20
Speaker 3: it's changed a hundred times and it'll change 400 more
11:23
Speaker 3: times before I graduate. But I think it's just interesting
11:27
Speaker 3: how quickly everything changes and it's usually always for the better.
11:32
Speaker 3: And it's just nice to meet different sides of myself
11:35
Speaker 3: while I'm also meeting other people.
11:38
Speaker 2: Those are such great points.
11:40
Speaker 1: And yeah, so much can happen in those four years,
11:45
Speaker 1: even in the first year, whether that is learning more
11:49
Speaker 1: than you ever thought was possible and just opening your
11:53
Speaker 1: eyes to different aspects of vet med because there truly
11:57
Speaker 1: are so many aspects Well, it sounds like you have
12:02
Speaker 1: settled in quite nicely to the vet student life so far,
12:06
Speaker 1: which is no minor feat. But I also want to
12:11
Speaker 1: hit home on a point that I do feel personally
12:13
Speaker 1: very strongly about. And that is the just mentality that
12:18
Speaker 1: we have sometime. And so I want to be clear
12:22
Speaker 1: that no one is just a vet student or just
12:25
Speaker 1: a veterinarian. And I understand that you are married. So
12:29
Speaker 1: you mentioned your husband earlier. You also have a fur family.
12:32
Speaker 1: So how has vet school being a vet student impacted
12:36
Speaker 1: those relationships? Yeah.
12:38
Speaker 3: So I, as you mentioned, I do have a husband.
12:40
Speaker 3: His name is Hudson. We got married back in January
12:44
Speaker 3: of 2022. We also have a dog. So we have
12:47
Speaker 3: our border collie, Ray, and then we have our cat, Kylo.
12:51
Speaker 3: And then recently, because my life Wasn't hectic enough as
12:55
Speaker 3: a first-year vet student. We added a puppy. So now
12:57
Speaker 3: we have Ahsoka, who's a Border Collie mix from the
13:00
Speaker 3: local shelter. It's so different. I mean, coming from just working,
13:06
Speaker 3: coming home, having the animals to... They say vet school
13:09
Speaker 3: is like a job. I think it's more than a job.
13:12
Speaker 3: I think a job, you know, at 530, you get
13:14
Speaker 3: to go home at vet school. It's like, OK, I
13:16
Speaker 3: finished classes and now I'm going to go study until
13:19
Speaker 3: 11 midnight. You have to kind of adapt. The hardest
13:22
Speaker 3: thing I think for me was setting boundaries with school
13:26
Speaker 3: and work and home life. And that was something that
13:29
Speaker 3: me and Hudson kind of struggled with when we first
13:30
Speaker 3: got here is I got to vet school and I
13:33
Speaker 3: committed myself 110% to vet school and kind of left
13:38
Speaker 3: my family in the dust. And I had to reevaluate
13:40
Speaker 3: and say, okay, that school is a priority, but it's
13:43
Speaker 3: not my only priority. And so you have to really
13:48
Speaker 3: kind of differentiate what is a, a list has to
13:52
Speaker 3: be done immediately. And what's like, okay, that exam is
13:55
Speaker 3: in four weeks and, it can wait a little bit.
13:58
Speaker 3: I can put it on the back burner for at
13:59
Speaker 3: least two of those weeks. And so I think one
14:01
Speaker 3: thing that we've had to learn is to be really
14:04
Speaker 3: intentional with our time, as well as the fact of,
14:07
Speaker 3: you know, just because I'm home doesn't mean I'm available.
14:10
Speaker 3: I may be home and I may be sitting on
14:12
Speaker 3: the couch, but I may be studying or doing an
14:15
Speaker 3: assignment that's due in 20 minutes. And I think being
14:19
Speaker 3: intentional and knowing, okay, Tuesday at 5.30, we're going to
14:23
Speaker 3: go eat dinner or we're going to make dinner at
14:25
Speaker 3: home and we're going to watch a TV show and
14:27
Speaker 3: just like setting those times aside where it's like I
14:31
Speaker 3: am taking off my vet student hat, putting on my
14:33
Speaker 3: wife hat, and we're going to be a family for
14:35
Speaker 3: a minute. And I'm not going to think about anatomy
14:38
Speaker 3: or virology or bacteria or anything like that for this
14:42
Speaker 3: two hours that I've allotted to breathe. And I think
14:45
Speaker 3: also having pets in vet school is... honestly such an
14:50
Speaker 3: amazing opportunity. If it was up to me, I would
14:53
Speaker 3: sit in my house 24-7 and I would not leave.
14:55
Speaker 3: Ray Ray and Ahsoka do not care that I have
14:58
Speaker 3: an exam on Monday morning. They want to go outside.
15:01
Speaker 3: I think it's also nice that I can be sitting
15:04
Speaker 3: on the couch having my little spiral of studying. And
15:06
Speaker 3: then I look up and there's 30 tennis balls around me.
15:10
Speaker 3: And I'm like, okay, yeah, maybe I can take a
15:11
Speaker 3: break and we can throw the ball or do something.
15:14
Speaker 3: I think just taking those little breaks and doing those
15:16
Speaker 3: little things is just so important for our mental health
15:19
Speaker 3: as well as academic success as well.
15:22
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
15:23
Speaker 1: I really like the way that you put that of
15:26
Speaker 1: the setting boundaries because it goes both ways.
15:30
Speaker 2: So being intentional about your time is time when you
15:34
Speaker 2: are a wife and time when you are a student.
15:38
Speaker 2: Being home doesn't necessarily mean 100% wife too because I
15:42
Speaker 2: can see that being a tension. But again, communication is
15:46
Speaker 2: so key and just being clear about this is our time.
15:50
Speaker 2: This is school time. I'm prioritizing and I'm triaging and
15:54
Speaker 2: we're figuring out as we go.
15:55
Speaker 1: And the plan may be great for one week and
15:58
Speaker 1: then we've got to tweak it for another week. But
16:01
Speaker 1: being aware that some of those conversations need to happen
16:03
Speaker 1: and that that balancing act is happening, I think is huge.
16:07
Speaker 3: Like you mentioned, it changes week to week, even like
16:10
Speaker 3: last semester to this semester. The last semester was a
16:14
Speaker 3: lot smoother for me. This semester school is requiring more
16:18
Speaker 3: of my time. And so that's just something that you
16:20
Speaker 3: kind of have to tweak out and figure out. I
16:22
Speaker 3: like having a schedule that's set in stone and in
16:24
Speaker 3: vet school, that's just not really reality. So I would
16:27
Speaker 3: love to say like, yeah, Tuesdays at 6pm is that's
16:30
Speaker 3: going to be our time, our date night, whatever we
16:32
Speaker 3: want to do. But it's like, okay, this week, that's free.
16:36
Speaker 3: Next week, I have at a club meeting or a
16:39
Speaker 3: extracurricular meeting for something. And it's just so hard to
16:43
Speaker 3: set those set in stone things. And so I think
16:46
Speaker 3: that's also adapting to know that your schedule is never
16:49
Speaker 3: going to be the same week to week. And another
16:52
Speaker 3: thing that I, and I forgot to mention it previously,
16:54
Speaker 3: but I really, really struggled with is that guilt that
16:58
Speaker 3: you feel when you're not doing academic things. And it's
17:03
Speaker 3: Something of I would find myself sitting and we're watching
17:06
Speaker 3: a movie and I'm like, I could be studying so
17:08
Speaker 3: many things right now. I'm not going to do well
17:10
Speaker 3: on this exam because I didn't study. And it's taking
17:13
Speaker 3: those moments and thinking, oh, that's a negative mindset. And
17:17
Speaker 3: I can't think like that. And just kind of like
17:19
Speaker 3: separating out that line of thought and thinking, no, I
17:23
Speaker 3: have actually studied for 14 hours over this day. I
17:27
Speaker 3: can take two minutes to make a sandwich and watch
17:30
Speaker 3: a TV show. And just kind of balancing like your
17:34
Speaker 3: mental needs versus your academic needs.
17:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, such a good point.
17:38
Speaker 1: So I just love that concept of being intentional with
17:42
Speaker 1: your time. And that also leads me to another question,
17:47
Speaker 1: because in addition to being a full-time vet student, you've
17:52
Speaker 1: also taken on some extracurriculars, as you've mentioned. So why
17:57
Speaker 1: did Savma get some of that intentional time allotment?
18:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's actually really funny. So in undergraduate, I had
18:06
Speaker 3: leadership experience. I was involved in the Student Government Association
18:10
Speaker 3: for my college and I loved it. So we did
18:13
Speaker 3: a lot of leadership stuff on the side. I helped
18:16
Speaker 3: run little like agricultural clinics for local high schools and
18:21
Speaker 3: like youth project shows and things like that. And I
18:24
Speaker 3: just committed myself 110%, which I tend to do, which
18:28
Speaker 3: can be a negative. I tend to overcommit. which I
18:31
Speaker 3: quickly learned I did in undergrad. I got a little
18:34
Speaker 3: burnout on it. And I said, I'm going to go
18:36
Speaker 3: to vet school and I'm going to commit to vet
18:38
Speaker 3: school and no extracurriculars. I will not join any clubs.
18:42
Speaker 3: I will not do any leadership roles. I'm going to
18:44
Speaker 3: go to class. I'm going to ace my classes and
18:46
Speaker 3: I'm going to go home. And that lasted all of
18:50
Speaker 3: five minutes. And so I went to all the open
18:52
Speaker 3: club meetings and it's just that thing of seeing other
18:55
Speaker 3: people be passionate about something makes you want to be
18:57
Speaker 3: passionate about it. And so you're going to all these
19:00
Speaker 3: clubs and you're watching these people be so enamored with
19:02
Speaker 3: their topics. And you're like, oh my gosh, this sounds
19:04
Speaker 3: so fun. I can just join. I don't have to
19:06
Speaker 3: do anything.
19:06
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, sure.
19:07
Speaker 3: I'd love to do that. And then the more I
19:10
Speaker 3: started looking at it, I started noticing some things that
19:13
Speaker 3: were frustrating for club leaders. And I thought, okay, like how,
19:16
Speaker 3: how can I fix that for them? Like, I think
19:18
Speaker 3: we can be better. LMU has student government and then
19:22
Speaker 3: LMU also has SAVMA. And so I looked at both
19:24
Speaker 3: of them and I said, okay, student government is going
19:27
Speaker 3: to do more within the school. And then I was
19:30
Speaker 3: looking at SAVMA and I was like, well, SAVMA is
19:31
Speaker 3: this like national organization. Like they seem to have more reach.
19:35
Speaker 3: And so I thought, I was like, well, I've done
19:37
Speaker 3: student government before. I know how that process works. Let
19:41
Speaker 3: me go try SAVMA. I've never done SAVMA before. Never
19:43
Speaker 3: been in vet school. I don't know how this works.
19:46
Speaker 3: So let me go explore that route. Did the interview. Felt.
19:50
Speaker 3: in love with my fellow Savma people. And then you
19:53
Speaker 3: get into it and you get excited. Being Savma president-elect,
19:58
Speaker 3: I got to go to Chicago for our Savma Summit.
20:01
Speaker 3: You meet all the other Savma school leaderships and you
20:04
Speaker 3: get ideas from them. Just making those connections with people
20:07
Speaker 3: who are in the same boat that you are, just
20:10
Speaker 3: at a different school. has been such a help getting
20:13
Speaker 3: able to talk to students and say, hey, we're just
20:16
Speaker 3: not really getting engagement with the events this month. Like,
20:20
Speaker 3: what are y'all doing? Like, what's fun and fresh? And
20:22
Speaker 3: getting those ideas from them for different wellness events or
20:25
Speaker 3: events for students or speakers that went over really well
20:28
Speaker 3: at their school that we can then get to our school.
20:31
Speaker 3: So I think it's just that sharing of knowledge. And
20:32
Speaker 3: it's such a fun experience. And it's I'm so I'm
20:36
Speaker 3: just so glad that I actually got involved with it
20:38
Speaker 3: because I came into it thinking like, oh, yeah, Like,
20:41
Speaker 3: I like leadership. I like being busy. And, you know,
20:43
Speaker 3: it might look good on a resume, so I might
20:45
Speaker 3: as well do it. And now that I'm in it,
20:47
Speaker 3: it's like, oh, this is something that I am in
20:50
Speaker 3: love with and I don't want to give it up.
20:52
Speaker 3: I just I'll miss it. But it's been such a
20:55
Speaker 3: fun time.
20:55
Speaker 1: Oh, that makes me so happy to hear because you
20:59
Speaker 1: are totally right.
21:00
Speaker 2: It can be so easy to. want to focus exclusively
21:05
Speaker 2: on academics.
21:06
Speaker 1: And yes, the rigors of veterinary school are such that
21:10
Speaker 1: you absolutely can do that, but that you're able to
21:14
Speaker 1: see that you wanted a bit more out of the
21:17
Speaker 1: vet school experience, knowing that it's going to be an
21:20
Speaker 1: additional demand on your time. But again, doing your research,
21:24
Speaker 1: making an informed decision, and then jumping in at first
21:27
Speaker 1: makes me very happy to hear. So as part of
21:31
Speaker 1: that experience then, and as we are sadly wrapping up
21:34
Speaker 1: our time on the show today, I do want to
21:37
Speaker 1: ask you to reflect and share what the most valuable
21:42
Speaker 1: leadership lesson you've learned so far from your time in
21:45
Speaker 1: Saba is.
21:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I've learned a lot. And I think
21:50
Speaker 3: that's just the realities of vet school is we're constantly
21:53
Speaker 3: learning something new. I think the biggest lesson that I've
21:57
Speaker 3: learned kind of goes back to my personal learning with
22:00
Speaker 3: vet school, and that's setting boundaries. Being a good leader,
22:03
Speaker 3: I want to be available to my people 24-7. If
22:06
Speaker 3: they text me at 2 a.m., I want to reply
22:08
Speaker 3: at 2 a.m. and be like, oh my gosh, we
22:09
Speaker 3: can figure that out. Let me help you. But at
22:12
Speaker 3: the same time, I think being not just a good leader,
22:14
Speaker 3: but a great leader is knowing that I can't be
22:17
Speaker 3: available 24-7. So how can I teach my teammates and
22:22
Speaker 3: help lift them up so they have the resources to
22:26
Speaker 3: figure things out on their own a little bit and
22:28
Speaker 3: delegating those processes? It's also taught me that I cannot
22:32
Speaker 3: solve every problem as hard as I may want to.
22:35
Speaker 3: Some things are just out of my hands. And so
22:38
Speaker 3: it's been a lesson for me to have to step
22:41
Speaker 3: back and be like, actually, I don't think we can
22:43
Speaker 3: do anything about that right now. Here's maybe something we
22:46
Speaker 3: can do about something else. And so kind of learning
22:49
Speaker 3: like when to pivot off of that. And then I
22:52
Speaker 3: think the biggest thing that I have just had so
22:55
Speaker 3: many struggles with is that saying no to something doesn't
23:00
Speaker 3: mean that I don't care about it. I tend, and
23:03
Speaker 3: I said this earlier, I tend to overcommit. So I
23:06
Speaker 3: want to say, yes, I'll do that. Yes, I'll do that. Yeah,
23:08
Speaker 3: I can take that on. I can handle that. And
23:11
Speaker 3: then at the end of the day, I get home
23:12
Speaker 3: and my plate is so full. And I just go,
23:15
Speaker 3: I don't want to do any of this. But in
23:17
Speaker 3: the moment, I just want people to know that I
23:19
Speaker 3: care about it and I do want it to get done.
23:21
Speaker 3: And so I think learning to trust other people and
23:23
Speaker 3: delegate tasks out is so incredibly important. If I have
23:28
Speaker 3: a class rep come in that says, I am so
23:30
Speaker 3: excited about this idea and I have looked into it
23:33
Speaker 3: and we can do this, this, this, and this, go
23:35
Speaker 3: for it. Run with it. I think it's such an
23:37
Speaker 3: important part as a leader to give people their space
23:40
Speaker 3: to kind of flourish on their own and Honestly, we
23:44
Speaker 3: get some of our best events out of that because
23:46
Speaker 3: they come in and they're so passionate about it that
23:49
Speaker 3: they're going to make it work no matter what. Whereas
23:52
Speaker 3: if I was maybe not super passionate about it, we'd
23:55
Speaker 3: hit a roadblock and be like, oh, can't do that.
23:56
Speaker 3: We got to do something else. So I think it's
23:59
Speaker 3: just so important as a leader, just give people their
24:01
Speaker 3: space and just stand back and watch because you'll be
24:04
Speaker 3: amazed at what people can do when they're really excited
24:07
Speaker 3: about something.
24:09
Speaker 2: Oh, so many great lessons learned already.
24:12
Speaker 1: And I love that each of them touch on different
24:15
Speaker 1: parts of your professional journey so far. I especially think
24:20
Speaker 1: that it's valuable for us all to keep in mind
24:22
Speaker 1: that no does not mean that you do not care.
24:26
Speaker 1: Because as soon as you said that, it resonated with
24:28
Speaker 1: me of a trap that I can fall into.
24:31
Speaker 2: It's like, I want to say yes, because this is important.
24:35
Speaker 1: But maybe because we can do something does not necessarily
24:40
Speaker 1: mean that we need to be the person in that
24:43
Speaker 1: moment that should do the thing. And it could be
24:46
Speaker 1: an opportunity to elevate somebody else, as you mentioned as well.
24:50
Speaker 1: So it makes me so happy to hear that Savma
24:53
Speaker 1: has been such a great experimental playground for your leadership
24:57
Speaker 1: skills and a chance to try on different things and
25:00
Speaker 1: see what works and see what could be even better yet.
25:03
Speaker 1: Because that's really what organized veterinary medicine is all about.
25:06
Speaker 1: And especially at the student level of what skills can
25:10
Speaker 1: we practice so that when we step out into the
25:13
Speaker 1: world after graduation, we're going to bring those to our teams.
25:16
Speaker 1: We're going to bring those to our communities and make
25:19
Speaker 1: our little corner of the world that much better.
25:21
Speaker 2: So thank you so much for sharing your expertise.
25:24
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you.
25:26
Speaker 1: Well, I have thoroughly enjoyed our conversation, Holly, from hearing
25:31
Speaker 1: about your roundabout way to vet school that hopefully inspires
25:35
Speaker 1: others who might not have a linear path and are
25:38
Speaker 1: wondering if this profession can be for them to really
25:41
Speaker 1: embracing every opportunity that vet school itself has to offer.
25:45
Speaker 1: I'm so excited that you're able to share some of
25:48
Speaker 1: your valuable time with us today and really appreciate the opportunity.
25:51
Speaker 3: Yes, thank you so much for having me.
25:54
Speaker 1: And thank you to each of you for joining us
25:55
Speaker 1: on this episode of the Mind Veterinary Life podcast. We
25:58
Speaker 1: love sharing this journey with you. And remember, we want
26:00
Speaker 1: to hear from you. So please be sure to leave
26:02
Speaker 1: us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or whatever
26:05
Speaker 1: platform you listen to. And you can also email me
26:08
Speaker 1: at mvlpodcasts at avma.org.
26:11
Speaker 2: Take care, and we'll see you next time.