When Isla Dubendorf participated in her WSU Junior Surgery block, she loved her patient so much that she brought her home and named her after one of her favorite Pullman businesses. Now, the high-energy, mixed-breed pup, Etsi, named after Etsi Bravo, is family to the veterinarian-to-be.
Through the WSU Honors College Pre-Admit Program in Veterinary Medicine, Isla gained early admission to WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Now in her fourth year of veterinary school, she is on track to become a veterinarian in seven years rather the eight it normally takes. “I’ve always loved animals and, as I went through school, I really came to appreciate math and science. I like that medicine is able to tie all these interests together,” Dubendorf said.
After graduation, Isla hopes to return home to Whidbey Island, but not right away. She wants to experience emergency and general small animal medicine in a larger area first and then bring that knowledge back to the island.
Isla enjoys tennis, hiking, and knitting on Zoom with her grandmother’s knitting club “Nip-and-Knit”. She once hiked 95-miles of Scotland’s West Highland Way in eight days to celebrate her high school graduation.
As a student in the Pre-Admit Program in Veterinary Medicine, Dubendorf has spent the past 7 years in Pullman. “I feel like Pullman is my home away from home at this point. Whidbey Island was all I knew until 2015, then I came to Wazzu, and I’ve come to love it here,” Dubendorf said. “I have made lots of friends and found a second family here. It will be a hard transition to leave, but I know I’m prepared and I’ll be back for homecoming games and other events.”