Krystal Lebron and Mark Dudek, local residents who will graduate with degrees in Biology with honors from Fredonia on Saturday, are ready to continue their education in veterinary school this fall.
Tuskegee University’s College of Veterinary Medicine is the destination of Ms. Lebron, a Dunkirk High School graduate, while Mr. Dudek, a Fredonia High School graduate, will attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
In addition to course work in the Department of Biology, both utilized internships, campus research experiences and guidance provided by Fredonia’s Health Advising Professions Committee and Career Development Office to gain acceptance at a veterinary school. There are only 30 institutions in the United States that award the Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree.
“Being accepted to vet school is extremely competitive, and we have two students this year,” remarked Biology professor Ted Lee, chair of the Health Professions Advising Committee. “Vet schools are in a position to be very selective simply because there are a lot fewer veterinary schools than medical schools,” he added. By comparison, there are approximately 170 medical and osteopathic schools in the nation.
“As a smaller school, Fredonia faculty are able to work with students on a one-on-one basis which makes them a strong applicant to a veterinary, medical or dental school,” said Assistant Director of Admissions David Steiner.
Through the Health Advising Professions program, students are given course recommendations, suggestions for extra-curricular activities and recommendations for shadowing experiences and internship opportunities.
Dr. Lee believes Lebron and Dudek’s passion for veterinary science – both decided during their middle-school years that they wanted to become veterinarians – helped to make them stand out in applicant pools.
Dudek, graduating magna cum laude, served internships at the Dunkirk Animal Clinic, Arkwright Veterinary Services and Buffalo Zoo. “At these internships I assisted the veterinarians with their daily tasks and clients, working alongside them and helping where needed,” he explained.
At the zoo, Dudek supported different procedures, from basic wellness exams to situations where an animal was in a distress, and also conducted tests on collected samples in the lab. He has been a member of the Lake Shore Humane Society for five years.
While on campus, Dudek conducted research on muscle fiber plasticity with Biology Professor Scott Medler. He was a member of the Tri-Beta Biology Honor Society, the Biology Club and the Health Professions Club.
“Grades are always an important aspect of applications, so the challenging classes and helpful professors at Fredonia were instrumental in me becoming a competitive applicant,” Dudek said. Experience in veterinary medicine is also needed to stand out, he added, “so the internships that Dr. Lee helped me set up were very helpful in gaining some experience in the field.”
Lebron, graduating cum laude, who also had a minor in Chemistry, served two summer externships with the Caribbean Primate Research Center, a facility in Puerto Rico that cares for and treats some 2,000 monkeys. She worked with five different veterinarians, observing evaluation, medical treatment and multiple surgery explorations. She also participated in stitching and necropsy, the animal equivalent of an autopsy.
At Fredonia, Lebron conducted research with Biology professor Karry Kazial, studying the effects of exoparasites, and assisted graduate teaching assistant Taylor Coleman. She has been a member of the Biology Club and Health Professions Club and a volunteer with the Lake Shore Humane Society. Lebron was also a Keeper of the Dream scholar in her four years at Fredonia.
“The Biology department and the EDP (Educational Development Program) were two major groups that helped me to succeed while at Fredonia. When I came to the campus community the staffs of these two departments were my biggest cheerleaders all four years,” she said.
Dudek and Lebron join recent Fredonia graduates who also enrolled in veterinary school. Leah Kerns Webb is scheduled to finish her degree this year at Ohio State, while Hannah Manning is completing her second year of study at Ohio. Angela Conrad is a third-year student at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Ryan Sherwood is in his second year at the University of Guelph, Ontario Veterinary College.
