In Dan Shillito's previous life as curator and director of a state-owned zoo in South Carolina, a tough day might have been a tree falling into a bear's habitat, providing a bridge to freedom for the 300-pound carnivore. In his current world, as a student at the College of Veterinary Medicine, a tough day has been a B-.

Shillito, who will be 38 years old this year, gave up a salary and health insurance to become a full-time student.

"My desire to be here was real, and I knew what was at stake," said Shillito. "I appreciated the high expectations of the faculty, the commitment to doing what was right and the opportunity to explore the many different doors that a DVM degree can open."

He said he took advantage of as many experiences as he could here, learning from them all. Most of all, though, he said he appreciated the opportunity to earn academic credit for participating with Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS ), a nonprofit veterinary outreach program that provides free veterinary services to animals who might not otherwise have access to medical care "either because of financial limitations or because a veterinarian just isn't available for miles."

"Working with and for animals has always been part of my life plan," said Shillito, who worked as a researcher with language-trained gorillas and orangutans at the National Zoo after he earned his Ph.D. in primate cognition and behavior at the State University of New York at Albany.

Later, running the South Carolinian zoo, he spent his days conferring in budget meetings and handling emergencies. As he moved up the ladder of responsibility, he said he lost the opportunity to work directly with animals.

This led him to Cornell to pursue his veterinary degree, where he realized that working with the animals' owners must also be part of the picture for his work to have true meaning.

"Through RAVS, I kept an 80-year-old woman's best friend alive," said Shillito, who explained that she used all of her disposable income to purchase a tube of Advantix to deter insects from her dog's ulcerated mass because that's all she could afford to do. "She became our best advocate. All we needed was one supporter in that community, one person to tell the others that we weren't a bunch of maniacs wielding needles, and we were able to help hundreds of animals. It's not about student loans. It's not about specialties or letters after my name. It's about helping people and, sometimes, the only friends they have."

After graduation, Shillito will begin his new life as a general practitioner at VCA MacArthur Animal Hospital, a small animal practice in Washington, D.C., where he expects that variety will be the only "typical" part of his day, doing everything from vaccinating newborn puppies and imaging broken bones to treating heart disease.

Stephanie Specchio is director of communications at the College of Veterinary Medicine.