The Animal Science Association is a relatively new campus organization that a group of biology, pre-veterinary and other health sciences majors started this spring.

Senior Will Justus, who served last semester as the organization’s first president, said that since there are few students and faculty members who focus solely on animal sciences, it can be difficult to build connections and relationships with academically and professionally like-minded individuals. Justus said he helped start the organization, in part, to provide networking opportunities for those looking to pursue graduate studies or a career in an animal science related field.

“The values we’re founded upon is to provide a professional network for people who are going into these fields,” Justus said. “We practice professional skills, (and) recently we did a thing where we worked on (surgical) knots. We also were trying to get a professor from the vet school at Auburn University, where I’ve done research, to Skype in and talk about the research she’s done.”

Justus said the association also created a Facebook page to connect current students with former students who are now in graduate school or in professional settings. He said this gives current students a support network they can go to for advice and guidance for decisions about graduate school and future career moves.

Dr. Steven Cooper, assistant professor of biology and one of the Animal Science Association’s sponsors, said the group holds regular meetings to discuss practical professional skills or academic topics. He also said the organization’s constitution says the group will take part in at least one charitable activity and one fun activity each semester. Cooper said that for last semester’s service activity, members of the organization took children living in foster homes on a trip to the Little Rock Zoo. A former foster parent himself, Cooper said he thought the trip was a wonderful opportunity for the kids to learn and enjoy the positive company of college students.

“I knew people in the Searcy Children’s Home, so I contacted them and got a list of kids,” Cooper said. “They did fundraisers on campus and raised enough money to do it, selling cookies and stuffed animals and all kinds of things like that. We took about 10 or 12 kids, I think, and they loved it, but I think the college kids especially loved it.”

Junior Hailey Weare, who serves as the Animal Science Association’s current president, said that one of the difficulties of majoring in an animal health science related field is that there are very few scholarship opportunities available for her. Because of this, as well as to encourage future students to consider pursuing an animal science related career path, Weare said the Animal Science Association is working alongside faculty members, like Cooper, to create a new scholarship. While she said not much has been raised at this point, they plan to help contact alumni and local professionals who might be interested in donating.

“One of the things that really prompted us to help get this going was that (Justus) applied for a health sciences scholarship, and there is nowhere on the application where it says students specifically have to be going to work with humans,” Weare said. “So naturally he applied for it, but he didn’t get it for that exact reason. Other than basic academic ones, we don’t have a whole lot of scholarship options, so professors like Dr. Cooper are really fighting for us by trying to make this happen.”

Justus said the Animal Science Association is not meant to be confined to current students but to graduates and to the professional community, so as to provide a broad network for students to reach out to in the future. Weare said the association is still accepting members until the end of today, and interested students can inquire about joining by emailing her at huanimalscience@gmail.com.