Volleyballer Eyes Vet School Future

September 21, 2006

Weatherford – Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Kasandra Gurtner will soon hope her good fortune on the volleyball court can carry her to an even more ambitious goal in the not-so-distant future.

Gurtner has three more semesters of course work to complete before she will make formal application into a school of veterinarian medicine. The Cimarron, Kan. native said she hopes to gain admittance at either Oklahoma State University or back near her home at Kansas State University in the fall of 2008.

“I’ve always had a passion for animals since I was just a little kid,” Gurtner said. “I’ve been around them my whole life whether it was at my grandpa’s farm feeding cows or riding horses. I had a dog for 17 years and a number of cats that were in an and out of the house all that time”

While starring on the volleyball court for the Bulldogs, Gurtner is also making herself an attractive applicant as possible to the school’s administrative leaders at area veterinarian schools. At SWOSU, she carries a 3.79 GPA while majoring in biological science and with a minor in chemistry.

Cracking the application pool is a difficult task at any vet school much less prestigious ones like OSU or K-State. According to OSU’s College of Veterinary website, only 80 out of 400 applicants were admitted this year with 56 being from the Sooner state.

Gurtner’s class load is no slouch taking classes such as Organic Chemistry I and II and Psychology Statistics she works through two labs each week before hustling to volleyball practice which in most cases has already started.

“I know on road trips it seems like I’ve always got a couple of textbooks and assignments that I’m trying to get through,” Gurtner said. “It’s not as hard as it may seem for some reason math and science classes have always come easy to me.”

Gurtner already has first-hand knowledge of what is involved in a typical day at an animal hospital having observed this spring at the Animal Hospital of Weatherford under Dr. Mark Hoffman, a former SWOSU graduate.

“I remember one time he had to do a C-section on a cat and told me that if I got light headed or my knees started to wobble I should leave the room,” Gurtner said. “It didn’t bother me at all. I was concentrating on what had to be done and didn’t notice any of the stuff that might bother most people.”

While Gurtner past her first test of an internal surgery, she does envision one part of the job that she may have difficulties.

“I don’t know if I can put one to sleep,” she laughed. “I may have to hire that part of the job to someone else.”

For now though Gurtner’s concentration is on playing the sport she loves and helping make the Bulldogs a better volleyball team.

“I’m using volleyball to help me get what I want out life,” Gurtner said. “I can see me still playing the sport even after I graduate. I may be in some old ladies league at a church somewhere, but I’ll still be playing it.”