First-year Veterinary Nursing student Maja discusses the valuable experience she has gained and how her Futures Scholarship is helping her pursue her career ambitions.
I’ve always known that I wanted to pursue an animal-related career, and after some research into my options I decided that studying Veterinary Nursing was the right path for me. I’ve loved animals since I was tiny – I was the one who would choose the runt of the litter to adopt, to give it a fighting chance. The Futures Scholarship has allowed me to follow my plan, and has helped me in so many ways.
The Futures Scholarship has covered some of my course fees and living costs. The stability it has provided me is amazing. Knowing that those funds are there to support me has really made a difference. I have to buy a lot of specialised equipment for my course, including PPE and items such as stethoscopes and thermometers. They have to be good quality and we usually require spares, so the costs add up quickly. The scholarship has enabled me to buy everything I need. But the biggest help has been having financial stability, knowing that, for the time being at least, I don’t have to get a job and I can just focus on my learning.
Veterinary Nursing is a challenging course, particularly the more scientific aspects of learning human and animal anatomy and physiology, but it’s really interesting. I love the practical side of it, too, and it’s so rewarding to be able to apply our learning to help animals. I’m really looking forward to my summer placement in a veterinary clinic, where I’ll be putting into practice some of the things I’ve learned and building my skill set.
I don’t know exactly what I want to do when I leave Bristol, but I do know that the Futures Scholarship is helping me get there. I want to try a bit of everything, from working at an exotic animal vet practice or rescue shelter, to travelling abroad to help out on a conservation project. After all those experiences, I can then decide what I want to focus on.
I would like to thank the donors from the bottom of my heart – I really appreciate their support. The Futures Scholarship gives me the opportunity to get my Veterinary Nursing degree without the weight of financial pressure.
For more information on the Futures Scholarship, click here.
Great article