At a veterinary office over 4,000 miles away from Gustauvs, Carl Shobe ‘28 deepened his passion for working with large animals.
In less than 24 hours, junior Carl Shobe ‘28 helped perform a C-section on two cows in Sweden. “That was amazing,” says Carl, a biology major who plans to apply to veterinary schools this winter. “It made me fall in love with the career even more.” This summer, he spent two months interning with a vet office in the county of Värmland, Sweden, to work on large animals.
The opportunity came from a simple question: “Could I be your intern?”
When Carl was in fourth grade, his family lived in Norway for a year and became close friends with their neighbor, a local vet who practices in both Norway and Sweden. “She was thrilled when she learned I wanted to be a vet one day too,” he says.
That dream, many years in the making, took him back to the green mountains of Scandinavia this summer as part of a SigX (Signature Experience) internship. Working with his advisor, Carl was able to participate virtually from abroad in weekly cohort discussions with other Gustavus students. “The lessons throughout my SigX cohort set me up for being more than just an intern,” says Carl. “I learned how to be a better communicator, how to receive feedback, and how to be ready and prepared for whatever comes my way” — like those back-to-back cow C-sections. Or living in a somewhat unfamiliar place.
"The close knit community and openness in attitude that comes with being a student at Gustavus helped me become closer with new people during my internship experience,” says Carl.
As someone who’s been around animals his entire life, Carl has known he’s always wanted to work with them. His time away helped him compare the differences between U.S. and Swedish veterinarian practices. Their farms are smaller, they use fewer antibiotics, and animals get more time to roam. It’s even written into the legislation: The Grazing Law mandates that dairy cows must be outside for a minimum of six hours a day. That meant Carl spent more time outside too. “That’s one part I really enjoyed,” he says. “My SigX internship showed me what type of workplace I want to be in, how beneficial it is to come prepared everyday, and that the work you do benefits and impacts others.”
Working as a team during high stakes moments, like animal births, helped him see what his future as a large animal veterinarian could look like. “You have to work fast, think calmly, and act correctly,” he says. “It was eyeopening.”
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