The college’s 125th anniversary celebration on Friday, Oct. 4, didn’t go as planned, but, like so many times before in the college’s storied history, leaders improvised and a spectacle unlike any other at Bustad Hall ensued.
In the path of an early fall windstorm that swept through the Palouse, the college’s Cake on the Lawn anniversary event shifted last minute to a shoulder-to-shoulder social in the Mickelsen Lounge.
The relocated event, which featured free cake options for several hundred people, trivia, Butch T. Cougar, a photobooth and a 75-year time capsule filled with various items from each of the college’s facilities on campus, drew a crowd that sprawled the length of the first floor of Bustad Hall. Meanwhile, first-year veterinary student Chloe Ettinger was the DJ and kept tunes from all eras reverberating throughout the building for the hundreds that attended.
In an interview with the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, college dean Dr. Dori Borjesson said the quasquicentennial celebration was “like standing on the shoulders of giants.”
“It feels really amazing to see us here celebrating alumni, students, donors and communities,” Borjesson said.
The WSU College of Veterinary Medicine is the fifth-longest established veterinary college in the United States. In 1899, what started with a $60 shed, evolved into a mainstay in veterinary medicine, integral in shaping standards of care, field advancements through research, and safeguarding animal health through diagnostic testing and consultation.
Borjesson reminisced on the college’s start as she addressed a packed Mickelsen Lounge. She highlighted the college’s role as an active community partner and read aloud excerpts from student letters that were later locked in the time capsule.
“Tovah Yenna, DVM class of 2025 president, writes to a veterinary student of the future, ‘Never lose that curiosity. Never lose the desire to discover. Don’t settle for doing the best we can with the information we have at hand. Reach for new information and new questions to ask,’ ” Borjesson read.
Among the other items were a letter from Borjesson, the first female dean of the college; an old pager; a dog skull; a 1940s syringe; and a flash drive with all the photos from the celebration.
In theatrical fashion, Butch mocked placing the final nail — one that was about 10 times larger than it should be — and sealing the capsule. The capsule, built by retired woodshop instructor and Pullman resident Dan Scott, was later placed in a display case at the west end of Bustad Hall. It’s set to be opened in 2099.
“We have a lot to celebrate, and we have a lot of people to celebrate, who through the years dedicated their careers to make this college become the highly respected name that it is in the veterinary world,” Borjesson said. “Today we celebrate all of those accomplishments.”