Saskatoon veterinary students ride on the Magic School Bus
Instead of submitting academic papers, a group of veterinary students at the University of Saskatchewan are using the Magic School Bus to showcase their studies.
Students at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine recently created a parody video of the '90s TV series for a North American contest.
In the video, the students explore a cow's reproductive tract.
It is now one of five finalists in the BCF Technology University Program competition. It's also the only Canadian finalist. The winning school will get a large animal ultrasound machine, worth about $12,000 US.
Devon Wilson, who plays the famous Ms. Frizzle in the video, said the college has a rich history of doing fun projects.
"One of the things with the video is showing that it's difficult to palpate and obviously if you had a magic school bus you could go see it," Wilson said, laughing. "But an ultrasound is kind of the mid-way point between the two."
Some people may find the video a bit too realistic, but for veterinary students like Wilson, it's showcasing their passion for treating animals.
"I think it's pretty cool to show kind of what we do here," Wilson said. "The palpating itself is a lot of fun and being able to have an ultrasound like this would just be so cool for our school."
Chris Clark, associate professor of large animal medicine, said he's very impressed with the students.
"I absolutely loved it," Clark said. "I thought it was so inventive and so much fun."
While it's a lot of fun, Clark said the students' efforts could also prove to be very valuable for the university.
"Ultrasound has become much more common in cattle reproductive work," Clark said. "The students in the lab do get exposed to ultrasounds, but we don't have a very large number of them and it's a fairly large class. The machines we have that the students use are tending to get a little dated."
Regardless of what happens, Wilson said the feedback from the video is rewarding.
"I think what motivated us most to enter the contest was just the idea that it would a lot of fun to make a skit," she said. "But the ultrasound is definitely a really great prize that would be awesome for our school to have."
Click here to cast your vote in the BCF Technology University Program competition. Voting closes on April 27 and a winner will be announced on May 1.
Here is the entire video:
