LIFE@OSU

Is there anything Staci Brigham can’t do?
According to her mentor, Wendy Baltzer, the answer is “no.”
A wife, mother of two and a fourth-year veterinary student, Brigham hopes to send a powerful message to her children — anything is possible.

“You can be a mom, you can be a wife, you can be a professional,” Brigham says. “You don’t have to, but you can.”
Similar learning styles encouraged the connection between Baltzer and Brigham. “We have the same curiosity,” Baltzer says. “We want to be able to follow a case all the way through and solve the mystery. That’s how we function.”
Curiosity isn’t the only quality that Brigham and Baltzer share; they have stayed focused and determined in order to compete in a profession that is currently dominated by men.
“I think we are probably two of the most strong-willed people on earth,” Brigham says. “But, I think that is what it takes if you want to be a woman in this profession.”
Baltzer has supported Brigham on the road to board certification in small animal internal medicine, reminding her that the hard work and the long journey ahead—which will be filled with internships, additional schooling and board examinations—will be worth it in the end.
“It makes it easier to think that my kids and my husband will get to watch me graduate from vet school,” Brigham says. “People told me that I would fail out, but I’m at the top of my class—Dr. Baltzer was one of the only people who believed in me.”
~ by Tara Pistorese
Editor’s note: The Mentors feature series looks at faculty and staff who guide the academic and professional development of students and junior staffers through exemplary personal engagement.