An end to the 150th celebrations

Greetings, all!

The Ontario Veterinary College has, over the past year, celebrated its 150^th anniversary with a range of events- from public outreach, to global symposiums, special alumni events and more. On Saturday, Nov 3^rd, we concluded these celebrations with a night of spectacular performances by students, staff and friends of the OVC community.

We opened the night with the ghost of OVC past- Dr Andrew Smith, our founder- played by our own Dr. Conlon. He reminisced about his days and how things have changed. As he left the podium, we moved to a video excerpt from the 125^th anniversary, showing a song sung by Dr. Trevor Lloyd Jones, the first dean of the OVC.

We began the night’s performances with David Archibald. The son of two OVC grads, he was brought up on and around the OVC, and later went on to record and perform music, producing the first recordings for Avril Lavigne, performing on Sesame Street and running songwriting workshops across Ontario. He brought with him memories of old OVC cheers and fondly recalled the Vet vs Aggie rivalry that reigned in his childhood.

“I’, an Aggie, I’m an Aggie, I’m an Aggie, I regret. But I have to be an Aggie, cause I couldn’t be a vet!”

He went on to entertain us with songs he had written specifically for this event, about Dr. Frank Schofield, clogging ship leaks with horse manure, and even a song about Rinderpest (a viral disease of cattle)- the latter sung with his daughter. His songs and stories certainly struck a chord with the audience, which was filled with many OVC alumni and his catchy tunes had everyone joining in the choruses.

“RINDERPEST!!!”

Christian McFarlane and Evan Bell of the Class of 2015 performed next, with songs from The Eagles, Death Cab For Cutie, and finally an OVC parody of the Bare-naked Ladies’ song, “If I had a Million Dollars”, which had the room chuckling all the way through.

I may be quoting, “If I had a Million dollars, I’d buy you a fur coat, but not a real fur coat, my classmates would kill me!” or “I’d buy you some art, like a Picaso or a Yamishiro!” for years to come!

They were followed by a duet by Jennifer Beehler, from the Dept of Clinical Studies- who performed with Andrew Taylor.

Next, the Class of 2014 serenaded us with some Scottish and Irish music from Shari McGuirl and Rob Berger- accompanied by Highland dancing by Erin Hayes, which got the entire audience clapping and tapping their feet to the tune. It’s refreshing to see some traditional music played and danced to by some traditionally Scottish and Irish girls! They were then joined by their classmates, Ryan Appleby, Whitney Degroot and Erin Philips, and their performed a couple of songs, including one they had written about a dog they had practiced surgery on, Baby. Only in vet school!

After all the musical performances, a video was played, highlighting some of the various events held in celebration of the 150 years of the vet school- everything from the new Challenge Cup to the Global Development Symposium and the various veterinary guests that have graced the halls of the OVC over the past year. The video was followed by closing remarks from the Dean of the College, Dr Elizabeth Stone, who reflected on how far we’ve come and how resilient the college and the profession is.

The night concluded with a reception for the guests, where there were fine desserts and refreshments. In promotion of an upcoming book celebrating this milestone in the College’s history, a photo-slideshow showed pictures from 1862 to the present day, reflecting the various facets of the college through its many transformations.

Filled with performances from our very own, the event was a nice, intimate gathering of members of the extended OVC community, and served to highlight how we are more than just a College that is 150 years old. We are a community that shares a sense of pride and a history of 150 years, with many more to come.

As a student, watching these proceedings, there was a mix of emotions. First, feeling guilty that I should’ve been studying ;)   Second, pride in our profession, and in our classmates, and our school. And third, happiness. We get to be a part of this. We are a part of something so big, so diverse, and so rich in history.

Jointly written by 

Vishal Murthy and Kay Marinac

All images owned by and obtained from the Ontario Veterinary College