Hello all! My name is Adelaide Basco and I am a rising senior at Tulane University studying Cell and Molecular Biology and Studio Art. I’m currently highly involved on campus: I’m the incoming president of the Tulane Pre-Veterinary Society, I have been the president of the Tulane Art Club (formerly T/NASA) for four years, and I am also the art director at the Tulane Hullabaloo. I volunteer my time regularly at the Audubon Zoo and at Carrollton Veterinary Hospital, and have done so for several years now. I am to become a veterinarian either working in exotic large animals or in conservation veterinary medicine – I’m still undecided as to which!
This summer, I will be working with the Avian Conservation Center in their Avian Medical Clinic to rehabilitate and release birds of prey from around the area. I will primarily be working with the lead veterinarian at the center as an uncertified veterinary technician, running cell assays, blood tests, setting bones and assisting with surgeries – as well as a little good old-fashioned grunt work, making sure that the clinic is running at its most efficient and staying clean throughout all of the sick and injured birds that we see. The Avian Conservation Center aims to both heal birds of prey and educate the general public how their actions may affect the wildlife around them. I will also be working to share my experiences at the center, both specifically for the workings of the Avian Medical Clinic, and how similar wildlife clinics are run, with the pre-veterinary society here at Tulane. I think that informing students about the opportunities that are out there for them is a critical responsibility of upperclassmen to enable future years of students to reach their fullest potential, and I believe that it will, after this internship is complete, be my time to pass on what I can.
I am beyond excited to use the skills and knowledge that I have gained over the past five years to both assist with rehabilitation efforts at the Avian Conservation Center and to be able to then pass on what I learn and work on to other students here at Tulane. I think that advocacy for women taking their future into their own hands and reaching out for things that they aren’t sure they can get is a fundamental message that we must instill. I look forward to being able to do this myself.