IVSA happenings at Oregon State University

One of the benefits of being a SAVMA member is that you are also a member of the International Veterinary Students' Association (IVSA). Read below to see what Oregon State University's chapter is up to!

The OSU International Veterinary Students Association has been very busy over the last few months.  We started out the school year with the very successful Run for Ukraine in October followed up by OHOW week in January.  In winter term we awarded scholarships to Nicaragua 2012 participants, and the term was rounded out by our annual silent auction.  Plans for the 2013 trip to Nicaragua are well under way; applications were received and approved in January.  The 2013 Nicaragua participants began their required seminars on April 2nd; those will continue through spring term.  Representatives from our IVSA group attended the tenth annual Western Regional International Health Conference at OHSU at the beginning of April and there is more IVSA fun to come.  Don't forget the International Food Fest coming sometime in May!

On October 14th IVSA held The Run for Ukraine.  This event received a lot of community support and raised $785 that will be used to further veterinary care in our sister city of Uzhgorod, Ukraine and assist the community of Ukraine with healthcare for their citizens suffering with tuberculosis.  Currently, Uzhgorod does not have an animal shelter, the community hopes to put these funds toward the effort of establishing one.

OHOW (One-Health-One-World) week was January 7-11 and the proceeds from this event also went to our sister city Uzhgorod, Ukraine; a grand total of $874.67.  The events of the week consisted of a presentation from the Corvallis Sister City Association, a penny drive that the Class of 2014 won again this year, and several lunches sponsored by IVSA, AAEP, Therio Club, SCAVMA, Class of 2014 and Shelter Med Club.  There was also a fundraiser sponsored by Woodstocks Pizza in which 30% of the proceeds were donated to our sister city.

Thanks to Dr. Bermudez and the Department of Biomedical Sciences, we were able to award 8 scholarships for $200 each to Nica 2012 participants and 3 scholarships for $200 each to Executive Board members (in part with funding from IVSA).  Scholarships were awarded to those with the highest number of points earned throughout Nica trip planning and preparation.  The recipients were:  Janelle Dabritz, Kelly Norton, David Johnston, Sam Joyce, Erin Bennett, Robyn Thompson, Jared Sharp, Jill Ollivant, Kax Kraska, Sara Livesay, and Sami Pederson.

The silent auction, held during the last week of winter term, raised more than $3,300. This is the largest fundraiser for Oregon IVSA and the Nicaragua trip. We would like to thank everyone who donated their services, items and time to the auction. There were many fabulous prizes; from guitar and roping lessons to lots of yummy dinners.  There was even a zombie dance party that went for $705!

Keep your eyes out for messages regarding the annual International Food Fest!  Also, Check out the Oregon IVSA website for current events and information:  http://groups.oregonstate.edu/ivsa/.