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The Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) hosted the 2026 SCVMA Symposium in Guelph, Ontario, from January 15 to 17, 2026. Despite the challenging weather, veterinary students from across Canada flocked to OVC for an incredible weekend of skill development, learning, and networking. This year’s conference, themed Spectrum of Care, featured a variety of unique, thought-invoking lectures, opportunities for hands-on learning in the wet labs, and several behind-the-scenes tours that let students explore many different aspects of veterinary medicine.
The Thursday of every SCVMA Symposium is typically dedicated to traveling to the conference and attending the evening social event. This year, Mother Nature decided to throw a wrench into that plan by dropping over 30 cm of snow onto the region over the course of Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. The snowfall caused significant travel delays for many of the out-of-province students and was severe enough to shut down the University of Guelph campus by mid-Thursday morning.
Luckily, as vet students, our curriculums focus heavily on teaching us resilience and tenacity, so the weather did little to dim our excitement for the weekend ahead!
The closure of the OVC campus unfortunately meant that the Thursday evening mixer had to be cancelled. Traditionally, the mixer would be an opportunity for students to do some casual networking, participate in trivia and prize draws, and get pumped for the weekend ahead of them. This year, students had the opportunity to get settled in and well-rested before an exciting Friday of lectures and labs (all except for this author, who arrived at the hotel after 3 am due to travel delays).
Friday morning was the official start of the symposium and attendees got the opportunity to sit through some incredible lectures. One of the most unique sessions offered was an interactive lecture called ASL Basics for Vet Med, where students got the opportunity to learn how to sign their names, introduce themselves as veterinarians, and learn about the Deaf community. Throughout the lunch hour, attendees got to listen to an informal discussion about life as a veterinarian post-school, which provided some interesting perspectives on internships, work-life balance, and career progression. Scheduled for Friday afternoon was a multitude of wet lab sessions that provided a wide range of learning opportunities for attendees, regardless of their interests. Some of the labs offered included sessions on obstetrics and dystocia, techniques for high-volume spays and neuters, ultrasonography, gross pathology, and dentistry. Not only did students get to develop their skills for clinical practice, but they also got the opportunity to connect with faculty members of OVC and other students from around Canada.
Invigorated, curious, motivated. These are the three words that best describe the collective feeling amongst students by the end of day on Friday. During regular classroom time, outside of the symposium, it can sometimes be easy to forget about what motivations brought you to veterinary medicine in the first place. Getting to explore unique aspects of this profession and meet with students from across Canada helped to rekindle this passion for learning and for animal health. The impact of the knowledge, skills, and connections learned and made throughout the day cannot be understated and will resonate with the attendees of the 2026 SCVMA Symposium for years to come.
Friday night was filled with laughter and excitement as students headed off to bowling and the arcade. Great food was served and many intense games of bowling were played. This year’s symposium had a very close-knit feel to it, and the students had a great time networking and mingling with their peers from other vet schools. For students still feeling adventurous after a long day, The Stampede Ranch offered the opportunity to show off your line dancing and mechanical bull-riding skills following the evening social event.
The Saturday of each SCVMA Symposium is a highly anticipated part of the conference, and this year was no exception! Students got to take part in a multitude of different tours around the Guelph area. One of the most highly sought-after tours was goat yoga, where students could stretch and relieve any stress and tension while being used as enrichment objects for a gaggle-of-goats! Other tours included in the docket were a comparison of two local humane societies and an in-depth dive into shelter medicine, as well as a tour of the Elora Dairy and OVC teaching hospital. These tours gave attendees the opportunity to not only have fun while learning about different aspects of veterinary medicine, but also to explore the Guelph area.
The Symposium wrapped up on Saturday night with an elegant Winter Wonderland Gala. The banquet hall was decorated beautifully and the food offered throughout the evening was to die for. The Keynote Presentation, given by Dr. Jason Coe of OVC, was incredibly impactful and tied in the importance of clear and effective communication to providing a good quality spectrum of care to your patients and clients. Following the keynote presentation, attendees got the opportunity to show off their competitive spirits with a trivia game that sparked a few light-hearted but intense debates and even more laughter. Before the evening concluded, students got the opportunity to mingle and say their goodbyes to new friends, pose in front of the photo backdrop, and dance the night away.
The 2026 SCVMA Symposium truly offered something for everyone and was the perfect combination of learning, exploring, and fostering new relationships. Despite the harrowing journey to get to OVC, the symposium felt warm and welcoming to all and students walked away from the conference feeling energized and empowered. A special thank you goes out to the organizers of this year’s conference, Cassandra Stewart, the OVC Senior Representative, and Emma Jessop, the OVC Junior Representative. Without the hard work that they and their team put in over the past few months, none this would have happened, and they organized an incredible conference that will leave lasting impressions on the attendees for years to come.
Personally, the adventure that was attending the 2026 SCVMA Symposium is something that will stick with me for a long time and one of the highlights of my third year. Getting the opportunity to learn and practice skills that I can take with me into practice in the future is invaluable, and the friendships and connections that I made along the way are something that I will cherish forever. There were too many memorable moments to capture from the weekend, but I am hopeful that this recap of the Symposium reflects how incredible this opportunity was and inspires other vet students to attend these conferences in the future- I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Shelby Jennings – University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Senior Representative – Class of 2027