Vets in the making

Jul 30, 2021

I have the pleasure to announce that three of our animal care volunteers are heading to vet school this Fall.

Kylie Watson (pictured above) first started volunteering with Kindred in 2017. First as a summer student during her Science Degree at University of Victoria. Then she became full time as she took a year off from going back to school. She is now headed to University College Dublin School of Veterinary Medicine. I got to volunteer with Kylie on some of my shifts and she always added a smile and fun and can do attitude. I hope we see her next summer during the summer break.

Aparna Chatterjee joined our Monday night tuck-in team during the coldest month of the year in 2019. We knew she was a keeper when the cold weather didn’t faze her and she helped get the animals tucked-in in record time (4:00 is the record). After that we always checked our watch to see how we were doing when the days got shorter and shorter. Aparna is headed to Western Collage of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatchewan.

Harveen Atwal is also headed off to Western Collage of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatchewan. Harveen and Aparna were thrilled to find out they would be students together and that they both had the same volunteer experience at Kindred Farm! I bet that rarely happens. Harveen actually started volunteering on Saturday mornings during Covid. I’m glad she was still at the farm in July when Covid restrictions were relaxed.

We’ve had a few vet students at our farm over the years, but this is the first time we have had 3! I am so proud of our little farm that can provide a valid animal care experience that is accepted at a university level. I love that this experience is very different than the care at a traditional farm. The experience at Kindred is care of unwanted farm animals with health issues and includes brand new medical interventions for farm animals allowed to live into their senior years. Harveen, Aparna and Kylie were able to jump to the front of the applicants with their high score on their interviews, their educational scores and their volunteer work. Congratulations for all your hard work and one of these days one of our students will be a vet for us at the farm. That will be amazing.