Sarah Bye, of Holicong, Pennsylvania, has received the 2017 Outstanding Graduating Student Award for the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech.

The award, which recognizes exceptional academic achievement and leadership by a graduating senior from each of the university’s colleges, was distributed during the Student Recognition Banquet on April 7.

Bye earned her bachelor’s degree in biology and French from Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 2010 and will receive her doctor of veterinary medicine degree in May.

While at the veterinary college, Bye was a member of numerous campus organizations, including the Veterinary Business Management Association (where she was a gold business certificate recipient), Pathology Club, Integrative Veterinary Medicine Club, and Alpha Psi Veterinary Fraternity, where she also served as historian. She was also the Class of 2017 social chair.

In addition to her course work, Bye worked evenings and weekends throughout the academic year as a large animal ICU student technician, which included such duties as monitoring and treatment of surgery and medicine patients, neonatal and isolation care, and assisting with large animal emergencies.

Bye, an equine track student with an interest in equine sports medicine, also traveled to Peru and Nicaragua with the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association’s Rural Area Veterinary Services, where she worked alongside U.S. and host country veterinarians and veterinary students to provide equine veterinary care in economically disadvantaged populations, treating about 1,000 working equids during each campaign. While in both Peru and Nicaragua, Bye also participated in community education outreach about animal health and welfare issues.

Bye holds memberships with the student chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Virginia Veterinary Medical Association, Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, and the American Association of Equine Practitioners, where she also served as the student chapter’s fundraising chair.

Written by Kelsey Foster, a master’s degree student in the Department of Communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences

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