A Legacy Continues

Sims says he likes veterinary medicine because it is both an art and a science. “You learn skills that few other people have and work constantly at improving those skills. When you’re in practice, you have the opportunity to serve the public with those skills. That’s the art of veterinary medicine,” he says.

“With the science, you gain a deeper understanding of how the natural world works, and as veterinarians, you learn to use that knowledge to help identify, treat and prevent disease in animals.”

Sims plans to go into mixed-animal practice for a few years to experience the practical side of veterinary medicine before selecting a specialty area to pursue further. Ultimately, he hopes to teach and do research at a university.

“I am extremely proud and happy to have been part of the graduation and hooding ceremony. Veterinary medicine is an honorable profession, and I am pleased Will chose this career path.”

Sims says it meant the world to him to be hooded by his grandfather. “I have admired him and his work for so long. He graduated into a world of veterinary medicine that was much different than the one I am going into today. Treatments and techniques were different, yet we share a common thread of both being educated by the same college,” Sims says.

“My grandfather hooding me is the continuance of a legacy and tradition that I am very proud to be a part of.”

Mother and Daughter

The May Commencement and Hooding Ceremony at Oklahoma OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences was a special day for Virginia A. Parrish, Ph.D., as she hooded her daughter, Kiana Adkisson

“I am extremely proud of Kiana and her accomplishments,” Parrish says. “When she was 13, Kiana asked me to type a letter she had written to the local veterinarian volunteering her free time to feed and water animals at the clinic, walk the dogs, sweep floors and so forth.

“I thought of ways I would prepare her for rejection, but to my surprise and to Kiana’s delight, she received a positive response. She worked for several years at the clinic and so began her great love for God’s ‘little critters.’”

Not sure when she first decided to be a veterinarian, Kiana does remember spending hours reading James Herriott’s books. “I was fascinated by the stories of his compassion and love for animals and for medicine,” she says.

“When I grew older, the human-animal bond and always changing world of medicine and science became the reasons I chose this profession.”

After graduation, Kiana joined the Hillside Veterinary Hospital in Charles Town, W.Va., where she hopes to combine traditional medicine with holistic modalities in the practice of small-animal medicine.

“The last four years have been the most intense growing experience in my life,” Kiana says. “This college has provided a phenomenal staff that balances the art of challenging students to be their best and encouraging them at the same time. I would not change this experience for anything in the world.”