Veterinary school is not an inexpensive endeavor. After covering tuition, books, and lab fees, plus rent, food, and other living expenses, students often experience difficulty in paying for things such as travel to scientific conferences, externships, or research sites that may have a major effect on their professional future.

Scholarships can provide vital support to help offset these travel costs. The Read-Gostick Education Fund was established by two University of Minnesota alumni, Lillian J. Gostick and her husband Raymond C. Read, to encourage and support a wide range of educational opportunities and activities at institutions of higher education with which they were associated.  The Lillian J. Gostick Award for Veterinary Students was established at the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) to honor Dr. and Mrs. Read’s granddaughter, Dr. Samantha L. Braman, who graduated from CVM in 2022. 

As trustee of the Read-Gostick Education Fund, Dr. Jennifer S. Read worked with CVM to establish the award for veterinary students. The award, primarily for fourth-year veterinary students, is intended to provide veterinary students with funding to travel to present research at scientific conferences or to complete externships at sites outside of Minnesota.  

Twenty students applied for the first Lillian J. Gostick awards, and 10 received grants. All the students plan to use their award money to pay for travel to externship sites where they can observe veterinary practices in action to be able to make a more informed decision about what sort of practices they wish to pursue once they graduate.

Read says her parents “were well-educated, and they very much appreciated the value of education. So to contribute to education was something that they decided they wanted to do.”  

She recognized there was an opportunity to meet a need at CVM “and that's really what the fund is for.”

Historically, says Dr. Erin Burton, CVM senior associate dean of academic and student affairs, most CVM graduates tended to stay in the upper Midwest—Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas—because they’re limited by how much they can afford to spend on travel to externship sites that are farther away. The Gostick awards allow students to broaden their horizons.

“This is one of the first times students have ever had the opportunity to go to sites outside of Minnesota that may not have been attainable before,” Burton says.

Jel Zhao, an international student from Singapore, has visited the University of Wisconsin and will head to a private practice in West Los Angeles for another externship at the end of her clinical year. Laura Munger, who is interested in rural medicine practices, has visited a mixed-animal practice in Montana.

The other award recipients won’t be traveling until the spring semester, but many of them have emphasized in thank you letters to Read how grateful they are that their expenses are covered so they can concentrate on their studies.

“Finances can be a very delicate subject and it can be hard to admit how much we as veterinary students are actually struggling to make ends meet,” wrote Olivia Gosselin, a fourth-year CVM student, in her note. “I am grateful to have individuals like you support us through our careers and expand our opportunities for learning.”