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Continuing Scholarship Updates

May 2007

My name is Sonny Miles. My sister and I were both recipients of the CDTOA scholarships during several years, and we’d like to update you on all of our activities. I graduated from MIT in 2002 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a minor in Chemistry. I greatly enjoyed my experience in Cambridge, Mass. coaching and playing soccer, participating in the debate team, and doing research on Alzheimer’s disease.
Upon graduating, I went to Paraguay in South America as an environmental education Peace Corps volunteer. I worked in rural schools in Paraguay teaching environmental education and working to improve the style of teaching in the schools. I learned Spanish and the second language of the country, Guarani. While in Paraguay, I decided to study medicine. After finishing my Peace Corps service, I traveled in Brazil for a bit before returning to the States and beginning the lengthy process of applying to medical school. I took the MCATs (the required entrance exam for med school), filled out quite a few applications and interviewed on both coasts. This fall, September of 2006, I started medical school at UCSF (University of California at San Francisco).

I am quite impressed by the quality of teaching at UCSF and the importance they place on teaching us. We have lectures, small groups where we talk about cases, anatomy lab (5 of us share one cadaver), histology labs, physiology labs, pathology labs, patient interviews, and other activities. I am enjoying learning about the human body and the medical field. Many opportunities await me and we’ll see where I end up.

My name is Kristy Miles. Here is a brief update of all my adventures and challenges. I spent my last two quarters of my undergraduate work abroad at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. It was a wonderful experience and allowed me the opportunity to do field work in the outback on reptiles, birds, amphibians, small mammals, and macropods (kangaroos and wallabies) and on the Great Barrier Reef on fish and coral. After rehabilitating opossums and raccoons in San Diego, I jumped at the opportunity to become a National Wildlife Rehabilitator in Australia. The animals over there are so fascinating and wonderful to work with. When I returned from Australia, I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from the University of California, San Diego. I spent the next year (2005-2006) traveling and working at an all breed dog rescue in Agua Dulce, CA. And then I started on the next huge part of my journey...vet school. I am currently attending Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Massachusetts. (That is about an hour outside of Boston.) My days are filled with classes on anything and everything you could possibly know about animals and I LOVE IT!

I have always wanted to be either a marine or exotic wildlife vet so I could work at a zoo or aquarium.

This summer I will be heading to Florida to participate in a program called MARVET, which teaches veterinary students about marine veterinary medicine. I am very excited. I am still not sure what kind of veterinarian I want to be, but with three and a half more years of school to go I think I will have enough time to decide. Right now, I am just trying to learn as much as I can and enjoy the little extra time I have with my new Pug puppy, Milo.

Thanks again for your support, Sonny & Kristal Miles

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