Open House Draws Thousands to CVM Campus for Discoveries and Delights

On Saturday, the public was invited to campus to marvel in modern medicine and experience some of the ways the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Hospital contribute to our community — cow milking, face painting and dog tricks included.

March 31, 2026 Burgetta Eplin Wheeler 4-min. read

A boy in a red and black jacket looks through a magnifying glass into a yellow cup as a girl in a purple and orange striped jacket claps her hands. — Scientists in the Research Building offered interactive activities on eight subjects, including Datamining DNA and Gels for Cells.

“Amazing” was the word Barry and Anna Thompson kept returning to to describe their family’s day before they scooted into the Teddy Bear Clinic for a veterinary student to stitch up a giraffe and a hippo for their two curly-headed girls.

At the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine’s Open House 2026, Cora and little sister Lila had already milked cows, petted alpacas, seen snakes and brushed the teeth of an animal skeleton, but it was the college’s facilities more than its animals that had left the Wilmington, North Carolina, couple in awe.

“I just wasn’t prepared for what you guys do here,” Barry Thompson said. “I expected something a little more complex than my vet, but what you have on site, the equipment, the space, the research, is just amazing.”

Anna Thompson, who grew up in Raleigh, added: “I went to nursing school, so I thought it’d be a lot like that low-key, the sim labs, the mannequins, but you have a lot of equipment! It’s a real functioning hospital.”

On Saturday, thousands of people like the Thompsons checked out the Terry Companion Animal Veterinary Medical Clinic, the Large Animal Hospital, the health and wellness center, both floors of the College of Veterinary Medicine, the research building and the dairy barn on campus when the college opened its doors to display its diverse, dynamic and daily contributions to science, to One Health and to the field of veterinary medicine.

The Open House offered a tour with more than 50 stops where community members sampled, for example, a surgery suite, a neuro-aging lab, an exotics animal showroom and a veterinary college admissions information booth. In the research building, scientists shared their expertise in eight exhibits, including Datamining DNA and Growing Guts, which explored intestinal regenerative medicine.

A woman in a red and gray jacket puts her hand to the muzzle of a brown horse with a white face. — Horses were just one of the not canine or feline species represented at the NC State Veterinary Medicine Open House, which also offered cows, pigs, alpacas and numerous exotic animals like snakes and gila monsters for exploration.

A man in a black shirt and glasses gestures with his hands at a table across from a woman in a white sweater while another man in a black shirt talks with a woman in a blue ski vest. — Supplying would-be veterinary students with information is part of what Open House is about.

Callie Curran, wearing a black jacket and a red NC State ballcap, throws up the wolfie sign outside a green tent. — Callie Curran, a current NC State freshman, was able to ask questions about the CVM admissions essay.

Dane Johnston, director of Continuing Education and Outreach at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine, has been the event’s coordinator at least 15 times,

“It is a lot of work, but we absolutely love it, because we sometimes forget how cool the things we do here are,” Johnston said. “We walk under the whale skeleton in the lobby every day, and we see things that we just accept are normal. When the public comes in, they are blown away, and it reminds us of how blown away we are to be working in a place like this.”

At the admissions table, Callie Curran, an NC State University freshman from Thomasville, North Carolina, asked for advice about the personal essays that veterinary applicants submit. Curran, an animal science major, has her heart set on attending the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine.

“I did not know what to expect when I came to Open House, but seeing all the different booths and so many varieties of animals and all of the people here who are willing to help you and answer any questions you have, it’s just so comforting for me,” she said. “It makes me so much more excited just to apply and hopefully get into school here.”

Curran, who had never attended Open House as a child, was in awe.

“I have loved seeing all the families with kids here, getting them exposed to it young,” she said. “It’s a great way for the community to learn and see what vet students are doing. It’s not just taking care of your animals; it’s taking care of the environment, helping people, researching genetics, all sorts of things.”

A small brown and white dog jumps over a white pole as it heads for an orange and yellow ring during an agility display on grass.

Anna Thompson, in a dark coat with sunglasses on her head, holds onto Lila Thompson, a toddler in a pink outfit, next to husband Barry Thompson in a gray jacket who is holding onto Cora Thompson, who has pink cat ears on her head and a purple hippo in her hands. — The Thompsons, from left, Anna, Lila, Barry and Cora, pronounced their trip to the NC State Veterinary Medicine Open House worth every minute of the drive from their home in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Lukas Garcia-Fresco, 15, a student at Oak Ridge Military Academy outside Greensboro, North Carolina, also hopes to attend NC State and major in animal science before applying to the veterinary college. This summer, he’s participating in a 15-day canine rescue experience in Costa Rica.

“I hope these students say they have a good amount of free time,” Garcia-Fresco said as he waited for panelists to arrive for A Day in the Life of a Vet Student session. “I hope they’re not always busy with work. I’ve always wanted to help animals. Dogs, I just like how friendly they are. You just relieve all your stress with animals.”

Dogs were the primary draw on the college’s campus hearth, where rescue groups offered companions for adoption and information about fostering and the AKC coordinated obedience, scent work and fetch events.

Cows for milking, alpacas for petting, horses for anatomy lessons and pigs for adoring were also part of the day, as were the majestic horses from the NC Trooper Association’s Caisson Unit and the cows lazing about during tours of NC State’s state-of-the-art dairy barn.

“I’m a nurse practitioner, and I want to go back to this school now,” Anna Thompson said. “I wanna go back and be a vet.”

Added Barry: “Everything about this has been amazing. And it hurts to say that because I’m a Tar Heel fan.”