Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine impacting rural and regional communities

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Going on it’s third year, Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine has made an impact on rural and regional communities.

Many of those Tech students come from rural communities. However, a few do come from larger cities like Fort Worth and even New Mexico.

Students must go through an extensive application process and share a common goal of serving rural and regional communities.

“Our students need to demonstrate either a rural or a regional background in terms of where they came from, where they went to school and what their life experiences have been in animals and veterinary medicine,” said Dr. Pippa Gibbons, associate professor of food animal medicine and surgery and admissions committee member.

Students are given the opportunity to study all animals.

“Our students do everything all the way through large animal and small animal,” said Dr. Gibbons.

One student has been with Tech since the beginning and with his hands on experience, he’s ready to move ahead with his career.

“Being here in Amarillo, we are close to feed lots and dairies and things like that, that at other schools, you don’t have the opportunity to drive 20 minutes down the road,” said Dylan Bostick, third year vet student.

Dylan plans to return to his hometown in Brownwood to practice.

“There’s one or two mixed animal practitioners but there is a lot more need for mixed animal practitioners that work on the bovine and the equine and stuff like that. So I want to go back and work on the small animals as well as the cows, the horses, and the goats and kind of hit that niche in my community,” said Bostick.

The college is continuing to grow with about 1400 students applying to be a part of Texas Tech’s next veterinary class.

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