Help Summer's Wildlife Dream in Zimbabwe

Han mitakuyepi,

This June, I have an amazing opportunity to travel to Zimbabwe to participate in a Wildlife Medicine in Africa course. With my Bachelors being in Fisheries and Wildlife, it has been a huge dream of mine to participate in wildlife medicine and conservation in another country. As some of you may recall, I was supposed to go to Belize in undergrad for a similar opportunity. However, due to COVID, that trip was cancelled and I never had a chance to fulfill this dream of mine.

Luckily, CSU offers this course and I wanted to jump on it being it my last year in veterinary school. There's a big focus on community engagement, collaboration, and One Health, all of which are things I'm incredibly passionate about. This is an amazing chance to see these very things that I talk about in the work I do in our Native communities, but in another cultural context.

The program costs are around $6-7k, but luckily SWO Higher Education department can assist with up to $1k for study abroad costs. I'm also currently looking into other funding sources, but would be so grateful for any additional help to avoid taking out even more student loans (veterinary school ain't cheap :( ) Any and all support would be so greatly appreciated. Everyday I'm reminded of what a privilege it is to have these opportunities, and I plan to give back tenfold once I become a veterinarian. I couldn't be in these spaces, pursuing this dream of mine, without my community's support keeping me grounded.

Pidamayayapi,

Summer