Summer Lara, a second-year D.V.M. student, was awarded one of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association’s Compassionate Care Veterinary Student Scholarships. I talked with Summer about this award and her amazing contributions to the field.
Summer is from South Dakota and a member of Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate on the Lake Traverse Reservation, a Dakota tribe and one of the bands of the Great Sioux Nation. Summer received her Bachelor of Science in fisheries and wildlife and also American Indian studies from the University of Minnesota, with a focus on Dakota language. She received her Master of Science in biomedical sciences from CSU. She is currently working on a Master of Public Health along with her veterinary medical education. She is interested in mixed-animal practice.
In Summer’s application for the compassionate care award, the entry that made her the happiest was her establishment of a summer clinic on her home reservation a vaccine/wellness clinic in partnership with the University of Minnesota. From the first year to the next, the number of people and animals served doubled. Beyond this, Summer is a member of Natives of Vet Med, the president of CSU’s VOICE (Veterinarians for One Inclusive Community for Empowerment) chapter, and a student leader in CSU’s new Rez Dogs program, partnering with neighboring tribes to provide care while engaging in learning opportunities.
Long term, Summer would love to go back to Sisseton to establish a practice. She is also interested in the creation of a tribal veterinarian that could serve a state’s reservations similar to how a state veterinarian operates to serve their state.
I asked Summer why she does the work that earned her this award:
“For Dakota people, we have this teaching of mitakuye owas’in which means ‘all of my relatives, all of my relations’ and it just means being a good relative, and there is also this idea of reciprocity or ituh’an.”
Others interpret this saying as “a give away,” where to celebrate things like the birth of a child or an accomplishment, the person being honored would give things away, rather than receive.
This sentiment also reflects on why Summer chose the path of veterinary medicine. While she is interested in veterinary medicine, she is most passionate about giving back to her community, which she continues to do as a student and will most certainly do as a veterinarian.
I also asked Summer how she would suggest colleges of veterinary medicine might better incorporate indigenous ways of knowing. She noted that the concept of One Health is very much rooted in Native concepts. She also shared that the triangle that connects people, animals, and the planet in the One Health icon demonstrates not only the connectedness but the lack of hierarchy between animals, people, and the planet that Native people understand. Summer described that in Dakota teachings, the relationship between people and animals is also reciprocal, not hierarchical, meaning that human life is not more important than animal life or vice versa, which tends to run contrary to western approaches to veterinary medicine.
At CSU, we’re so grateful that Summer is a part of our community and wish her congratulations on this awesome award!
