ScienceMakers Toolkit Manual - The History Makers

Life Science
earn her M.S. degree in 1984 and her Ph.D. in 1988 from Michigan State University (both degrees in veterinary
medicine). Grimes also taught at Michigan State University for seven years before joining the Ohio Department
of Agriculture Division of Animal Industry.
Grimes spearheaded the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s deer-testing program; this program was designed to
detect disease in the state’s white-tailed deer herd and to guard against threats to human health associated with
disease among cattle and poultry.
Grimes, a published scholar and researcher, also served as a youth mentor. An avid reader, she is especially fond
of the works of Zora Neale Hurston and J. California Cooper.
Discussion Questions
Personal:
1. What did you like best about listening to Dr. Grimes?
2. Where was Dr. Grimes born? Locate it on a map. How far away is this from where you live? What are
the names of her parents? Where did Dr. Grimes attend high school? What do you suppose high school
was like for her?
3. How old are you? In what year was Dr. Grimes your age? What was happening in the country that year?
What was happening in the world that year? What do you suppose her life was like when she was your
age?
4. How old was Dr. Grimes when she decided to be veterinary pathologist? What led her to that decision?
What kinds of things do you like? What do you like about them? What kinds of things are you good at?
What careers utilize these interests and skills? Is there anything that you don’t like? Why not? How can
you use these dislikes to narrow down your career choices? (See Clip #1)
5. Describe Dr. Grimes’s higher education path. What were some of her other options? Using your answers
from question 4, map out a higher education path for yourself that will allow you to begin your career.
Be as specifi c as possible. Now that you have a path, who can help you to get started on this path?
(See Clip #2)
6. Dr. Grimes discusses inequality based on prejudices. What are her conclusions? Do you agree with her?
What do you think about inequality based on race? What are other ways that people pre-judge each
other? Do you ever form an opinion about someone before you talk to them? Do you think that people
can change? How can you be part of this change? (See Clip #5)
Science:
7. What do you think a veterinary pathologist does? Would you like to be a veterinary pathologist? Why?
8. If you were a veterinary pathologist, what kinds of questions would you study?
9. Describe a typical day for Dr. Grimes. What is a necropsy? How is Dr. Grimes like a detective? Have
you ever wondered how or why something happened? What was it? How did you fi gure it out? What are
some of the tests that she runs? Why are each of these important? (See Clip #3)
86