Abigail Hawkins
At Tennessee Tech University, sophomore Abigail Hawkins is turning a childhood love
of animals into a path toward becoming a veterinarian.
The Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, native has wanted to become a veterinarian since she was
8 years old. Growing up on her family’s small farm, Hawkins cared for livestock and
developed an interest in both animals and medicine.
“I would say I inherited a lot of my love for it from him,” Hawkins said of her dad.
“I’ve always been around animals. And then in high school, I was in FFA, and so I’ve
been around animals most of my life.”
Now an animal science major with a pre-veterinary concentration, Hawkins is gaining
hands-on experience at Tech. During her first semester, she learned how to deworm
cattle and looks forward to learning skills such as drawing blood and artificial insemination.
“There are so many livestock that we can practice on out at the farms, which is honestly
how I best learn,” she said. “I just think the experience mixed with the class sizes
and how the professors are eager to set you up for success really drew me in.”
Hawkins is also building professional experience outside the classroom. After working
at a small animal veterinary clinic in high school, she connected with professors
and advisers at Tech who helped her find opportunities in Cookeville. She now works
at a nearby emergency veterinary clinic.
“I think if you just take the time to email your advisers and really get to know your
professors to show them that you’re interested in actually taking a step further,
they’re very knowledgeable of what is around in the area,” she said.
Those connections have also opened the door to research. Hawkins recently asked a
professor about opportunities to get involved and was connected with an upcoming parasites
and diseases research project.
For Hawkins, each experience is another step toward the career she has wanted since
childhood.
“I really am interested in medicine, and I like science a lot,” she said. “I just
don’t want to do people medicine, so it’s kind of perfect for me.”