SHSS Alumnae Link - Flora Sands

Welcome to SHSS Alumnae Link!

This is where we connect with past pupils and find out what they’re up to now.

This week we linked with Flora Sands who graduated in 2011.

Name and position:

Flora Sands, Animal Health Monitoring Coordinator

Lives:

London

Best memory of Sacred Heart:

The craic in general! I remember laughing so much with the girls at the silliest things every day. Cappanalea was also so much fun, I’ll never forget camping in the snow. Making a movie for one of our 4th year projects about dodgy black pudding dealers in West Cork was also hilarious and definitely a highlight!

What were your favourite classes?

Science (Biology & Chemistry)

Tell us about your career progression to date: 

I did my 4 year BSc in Zoology in UCC after the Leaving Cert. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, lots of the potential career paths from that course tended to involve a lot of voluntary posts at home or abroad to get started. As I couldn’t really afford that at the time and as I wasn’t in the headspace for going straight into a Masters, I waitressed in Cork for 4 years. I applied to various colleges in the UK trying to study Veterinary Medicine but was unsuccessful in those applications. While working full-time, I did loads of volunteering in places such as West Cork Animal Welfare Group, The Donkey Sanctuary in Mallow, a number of veterinary practices in Cork.

Eventually I moved to Nottingham in the UK and did a one-year Masters in Animal Health & Welfare, which was fantastic! Covid hit right in the middle of my course so it made finding a job even more difficult, lots of part-time jobs for a few months to get by, while I applied (to what felt like endless) jobs in anything which involved my two interests – animals and science! I got my first job in the medical research field in London, where I trained as an animal technician. I was involved in life saving medical research and training but my top priority was the upkeep of animal welfare and ethical standards. All the technicians were massive animal lovers and made sure they received the best care possible. 

From there, I got another job in a larger research facility in central London, where I have been working since January. I’m now organising the health screening of all the animal colonies in the facility, mainly mice. Having healthy animals, free of unwanted bacteria/viruses is essential for number of reasons – the animals’ welfare being one of the most important, to make sure the Animal Technicians don’t pick up any diseases that can transfer to humans, and also to make sure bacteria and viruses do not negatively impact ongoing medical research, exploring new treatments for diseases such as Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and many many more.

It was not a straightforward career path and a lot of hard work to get here but I love that I have a job that I’ll always get to constantly keep learning while having a healthy work/life balance.

If you weren’t in the job you have, what would you be doing?

An alternative route probably would have been veterinary nursing.

Advice you would give your teenage self:

Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing, if you’re finding something hard, chances are lots of other people around you are worried about the exact same thing, even if they don’t appear to be on the outside.

Favourite quote or motto? 

“Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and awful it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful.”
― L.R. Knost

What is your hidden talent?

I’m only 4ft 11” but it turns out I’m pretty good at handling sheep and pigs nearly twice my weight!

Huge thanks to Flora for taking the time to answer our questions!

See you soon for the next instalment of SHSS Alumnae Link.