A recent article in Bovine Veterinarian took a closer look at the annual OSU Food Animal Medicine Student Symposium.  Each year for the past five, student vets from around the country have had a chance to attend sessions and wetlabs to get hands on experience they’ll be using later in their careers. In one wetlab, for example, students had a chance to practice taking pulmonary arterial pressure tests on Holstein steers. The test itself has students insert a needle into the animal’s jugular vein, then feed a catheter in through the pulmonary artery. There’s a pressure transducer attached to the catheter that measures that pressure. It’s a test many students will need to know how to perform after graduation, and experiences like these give them valuable experience.

Students studying veterinary medicine are far from the only ones who need hands-on experience with in-field equipment like pressure transducers. Instead, students in almost every area can benefit from experiences like these, and you likely have a level of experience you can offer students of today. No matter what industry you’re in, you’re utilizing unique equipment and working in a space every single day a student will eventually have to experience. Can you help? Absolutely.

Not sure where to begin? Start by contacting your local technical school or college to ask about providing internships for students. You may also want to see if they, like OSU, provide a hands-on day or conference where you can demonstrate your own knowledge and equipment. In some cases, you may even be able to provide pieces of equipment for students to work with on an in-class basis.

Hands-on learning is the single best way to make certain the next generation can perform at the level you do every single day. Why not be part of the chance to make that hands-on experience possible?