Jerry Andres takes Daniel Hansen on a tour
of the Sisters View ranch, Clydesdale-style.
Last week Daniel Hansen, Class of 2018, helped Jerry Andres hitch a couple of Clydesdales to a wagon, and took a tour of the beautiful Sisters View ranch near Redmond, Oregon.
Hansen and Andres had met the previous month at the CVM Awards Ceremony, where Andres and his wife, Jinny, happily presented Hansen with the Andres Family Scholarship. They also invited him to visit their ranch.
Jerry and Jinny Andres raise world-class black Clydesdale horses, and for many years were active in fairs and parades across the Northwest. They often competed with their horses in driving competitions, from single-horse carts to eight-horse hitches. The Andres Family Scholarship was created in appreciation of the veterinary care their horses have received over the years, and designed it to assist veterinary students interested in large animal medicine and rural practice. “I really enjoyed the opportunity to go and personally express a deep sense of gratitude that I have for the Andres family, in a way that is more profound than just saying, ‘Thanks’,” says Hansen.
After arriving at the ranch, Hansen realized the Andres’ shared his passion for draft horses. “Helping them get their big 18-hand Clydesdales out, brushing them, harnessing them, and hitching them up was the perfect way to say ‘Thank you’. They are getting older and don’t hitch up the horses as often, so it was a real treat for both of us.”
Hansen and the Andres family really hit it off, and Hansen has a standing invitation to bring his family out to the ranch for a visit. “Experiences like these remind me why I want to become a veterinarian,” says Hansen. “I want to associate with, and work for, good, hard-working individuals like them. They inspire me with their example.”
It is not uncommon for scholarship donors to become friends with their student recipients (see related story in the Animal Connection newsletter). “The college offers scholarship donors the opportunity to connect with the students, and sometimes they develop lasting friendships,” says CVM Development Director Kelley Marchbanks. “It’s one of the nicest things that happens here.”
With the average cost of a veterinary education exceeding $150,000, scholarships are critical to alleviating some of the debt burden under which many students graduate. “Their contribution to my education will not only help reduce my debt load,” says Hansen, “but also it will inspire me to work a little harder, and study a little harder. I feel like they have become part of my education in a special way.”
