Veterinary student receives top exotic animal medicine scholarship
Friday, April 24, 2020
Second-year Kansas State University veterinary student Tori Matta vaccinates a zebra in Africa for a wildlife conservation medicine course organized by the WildlifeVets organization. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — Tori Matta, second-year veterinary student at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, has received the $2,500 first-place scholarship award from ZuPreem, a Kansas-based manufacturer of food for zoo animals and specialty pets.
Eligibility for the scholarship requires being enrolled at a U.S.- or Canadian-accredited veterinary school. Student applicants must be entering their second, third or fourth year in 2020 and interested in pursuing specialization in one of the fields of exotic animal veterinary medicine.
Zupreem provides $5,000 overall in annual scholarships to veterinary students interested in exotic animal medicine. The second-place award is $1,500 and third place is for $1,000. As the first-place recipient, Matta also receives an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2020 ExoticsCon in Denver, Colorado, scheduled Aug. 29-Sept. 3.
"I learned about this scholarship through the Exotic Animal Medicine Club at K-State," said Matta, who is from Manhattan. "My career aspiration is to become an exotic/zoo/wildlife veterinarian. This scholarship provides a tremendous opportunity to network and learn from professionals in my desired field at the 2020 ExoticsCon. I am fortunate to have amazing mentors such as Dr. James Carpenter and Dr. David Eshar, K-State veterinary faculty, to help me pursue my career goals."
Matta is a 2014 graduate of Manhattan High School. She earned a bachelor's degree in biology from K-State in 2018.
