WHS grad comes home to intern with vet

A graduate of Wasco High School was home from back east for an internship with local veterinarian.

Miranda Medrano, a 2016 graduate of WHS, is in her last year of grad school obtaining her masters and PhD at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech and was fortunate to land an internship with local Veterinarian Dr. Brian Edick.

"Mom is a second-grade teacher, and education was always a big part of my life." Medrano said.

Due to the coronavirus situation, Medrano has been called back to school for a two-week quarantine period.

"I enjoyed my time there," Medrano said. "It was a dose of reality, though, having come from the university where everything was stringent – having all the specialty services in one place and everything you could possibly want or need."

She added that she was able to help sedate and do some teeth scaling. "I helped spay and was taught how to cauterize."

Currently, she is seeking out places to complete her internship schedule.

Her focus will be on studying animal diseases, mainly swine. "There are known coronaviruses that have been around for years," she said. "Viruses can adapt to new environments."

Madrone's desire is to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture somewhere back east.

She grew up involved in 4H and raised pigs and rabbits. In FFA, she raised sheep and a replacement heifer, which she showed and then sold for the meat.

"My fondest memories in FFA are the bonding and leadership skills," she While in FFA she participated in the Green Hand Conference for freshmen.

"I love the smell of straw, the animals and all of it," she said.

Attending school in North Virginia, she has experienced the Appalachian culture.

Madrone's desire is to work at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, the $1.25 billion biosafety level-4 laboratory in Manhattan, Kansas, near the University of Kansas. "There is a special, state-of-the art facility there," she said.

Madrone mentioned she had been offered a travel scholarship to work with a veterinarian in Denmark for the Danish Agricultural Council beginning April 17 for four weeks; however, with the virus now at a pandemic level, the trip had to be canceled.