We've got a great update from the Ross Spectrum club just for you!
Did you know that Ross is one of the largest AVMA accredited veterinary institutions, but has one of the smallest campuses? We had no idea!
The students as RUCVM provided us with some excellent history of St. Kitts to give students from the states an idea of what its like living in the Caribbean (the bad and the good).
"St. Kitts is traditionally a devoutly religious island founded by Christopher Columbus and first claimed by Spain in 1493 and lastly by Britain in 1783. It is extremely historic and the island demands a lot of respect for being such a historical landmark in ancient history. It has evolved from a combination of West African traditions of slave populations with additions of French and British colonist. Following its independence from England in 1983 several historic Anglican churches remain with over 50% of the population still practicing this religion. St. Kitts has a very vibrant culture with legislation still in place that criminalizes homosexuality amongst males."
RUSVM spectrum Club helps give LGBT students and allies a safer sense of community on campus.
there is no LGBT support outside of the university!
"The LGBT students of RUSVM do their research before arriving to the island and participate in a thorough orientation that lasts for more than a week. Here we all learn what our life will be like for the next two and half years. Will we hate it? Will we “suck it up” and just hide who we are? Do we never venture out into the community? Are we going to feel safe? Who can I go to for help? These and many other questions run rapidly through our head, but we soon realize that we are visitors in this country and there isn’t much we can do to change the culture of an entire country. Instead we learned that the citizens of St. Kitts are more accepting than we realized and demonstrate respect for who we are as long as we give them the respect they deserve."
RUSVM students have ties to the community and organize local events.
RUSVM Spectrum now active! Members keep up on LGBT topics in the news and use Facebook to keep in touch outside of class. They host socials to build LGBT and ally student community, LGBT friends in the local community, and studnets at other universities on the island.
holding bake sales to fund events: fly in speakers, promote veterinary experiences.
Hope to someday give back to the community as the club grows or use funds to send members to veterinary conferences and other opportunites.
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