I have always had a passion for helping animals in any way I can. When I was little while we were hanging out at a friend's house I would always be inside petting the cat or dog or any pets they may have had. I would have rather been around animals than around people. Throughout my teenage years, I would volunteer at any animal rescue that I could. I also rode horses and would take care of them by working them to keep them in shape, cleaning and maintaining their stalls, as well as making sure they were properly fed. Eventually, after many years of caring for and riding other people's horses, we were blessed with the opportunity to rescue our own horse named Bri. Bri was a retired Olympic gold medalist dressage horse. Unfortunately, her large size intimidated her previous owner who would just keep her in her stall all day eventually causing her to become anxious and underweight. Once I started working with her, building her trust, and finding the right feeding program to work for her, her personality started to show and she became my best friend. Although we have had a few rough moments where she got scared and threw me off of her we were still able to push through together and learn so much about ourselves from each other. Unfortunately, she had a stroke in March and sadly passed away. After seeing how our vet reacted how calm he was and how comfortable he made us while he was assessing her and getting ready to go through with the procedure that's when I knew I wanted to try and be the best veterinarian I could be to help other people the way my horses vet helped us. In January 2023 I started interning at a local vet clinic to work towards obtaining my CVA (Certified Veterinary Assistant). While interning I have had the opportunity to experience many new activities like diagnostic testing, trimming nails, answering phone calls, setting up appointments, talking to clients about their patients, and how to help the veterinarian be as successful as possible. After interning for about nine months I was hired in October. I will be working as a veterinary assistant until I go to Tarleton University to work on obtaining my pre-vet. After I obtain my pre-vet degree I will move on to working towards my doctorate degree. After obtaining my doctorate degree I plan on creating my own animal rescue to help rehome and rehabilitate any animals in need. It has been my dream to be able to work with all animals that need some love and attention. At my rescue, I will help teach the public about how to care for their pets, care for wildlife, and have a safe haven for animals who need that extra love and care.

I have always been passionate about helping animals in any way I can. When I was younger and we were hanging out at a friend's house I would always be inside petting the cat or dog or any pets they may have had. I would have rather been around animals than around people. Throughout my teenage years, I would volunteer at any animal rescue that I could. I also rode horses and would take care of them by working them to keep them in shape, cleaning and maintaining their stalls, as well as making sure they were properly fed. Eventually, after many years of caring for and riding other people's horses, we were blessed with the opportunity to rescue our horse named Bri. Bri was a retired Olympic gold medalist dressage horse. Unfortunately, her large size intimidated her previous owner who would just keep her in her stall all day eventually causing her to become anxious and underweight. Once I started working with her, building her trust, and finding the right feeding program to work for her, her personality started to show and she became my best friend. Although we have had a few rough moments where she got scared and threw me off of her we were still able to push through together and learn so much about ourselves from each other. Unfortunately, she had a stroke in March and sadly passed away. After seeing how our vet reacted how calm he was and how comfortable he made us while he was assessing her and getting ready to go through with the procedure that's when I knew I wanted to try and be the best veterinarian I could be to help other people the way my horses vet helped us. In January 2023 I started interning at a local vet clinic to work towards obtaining my CVA (Certified Veterinary Assistant). While interning I have had the opportunity to experience many new activities like diagnostic testing, trimming nails, answering phone calls, setting up appointments, talking to clients about their patients, and how to help the veterinarian be as successful as possible. After interning for about nine months I was hired in October. I will be working as a veterinary assistant until I go to Tarleton University to work on obtaining my pre-vet. After I obtain my pre-vet degree I will move on to working towards my doctorate. After obtaining my doctorate I plan on creating my animal rescue to help rehome and rehabilitate any animals in need. It has been my dream to be able to work with all animals that need some love and attention. At my rescue, I will help teach the public about how to care for their pets, care for wildlife, and have a safe haven for animals who need that extra love and care.

I am currently a senior in high school at Dickinson High School. I am working towards becoming a veterinarian, I will start my undergrad at Tarleton this fall, and I have dreams of opening an animal rescue. My mom is the Vice-President of a local non-profit charity called Chef’s Tables Charities. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to help in various community projects through Chef’s Table Charities. In 2018, we helped feed over 1000 families during the government shutdown. We provided wrapped Christmas toys to over 100 families in need during Christmas of 2019. When Covid hit Galveston County, we helped provide hot meals to emergency workers. We went and provided hot water and broke up ice buckets to help local animal barns during the freeze in 2021. This past year we worked with my graduating class to provide socks and blankets to a local Alzheimer's home. I enjoy volunteering at the Galveston County Fair and Rodeo during the Special Days. At the Galveston County Fair and Rodeo, we helped entertain the special needs kids who came to get a tour of the fairgrounds, see the animals, play with toys, and win prizes in an environment where they could feel safe and enjoy the fair. In the summer of 2023, I volunteered at a barn, called Sole Ane Stables, where they gave horse riding lessons to people with special needs as part of a therapy program. I enjoyed this time, as I had previously worked with another therapy barn before COVID with miniature therapy horses. My role at Sole Ane was to help stabilize the riders while they were on the horses and interact with them. Sometimes we would play toss while they were on the horse, working on moving their feet, and helping them hold onto the reins correctly. Throughout my high school career, I have been able to volunteer through our Student Council and FFA programs. I would help at concession stands for school games, help vendors set up for festivals, and donate items needed to help make candy grams, Christmas gifts, and put together gifts we would give to other schools before our football games. I already have plans on starting my non-profit charity to help animals in need and give back to the community through animal care education. My mission, for my charity, would be to help rescue, save, and rehabilitate all animals, domestic and wild while teaching the community how to properly care and handle these animals. Volunteers would learn how to properly care for the animals, what proper nutrition and vet care consist of, learn how to clean and maintain the facility, and get hands-on experiences with the animals. Hopefully, I will be able to help future vets, much like my mentors have helped me. I would not be where I am right now without the help and experiences I have received so I plan to be able to provide information and any help I possibly can for future generations of veterinarians and vet techs or any people who have the same passion and love for animals as I do.

I am currently a high school senior at Dickinson High School in Texas. I will be attending Tarleton State University this year to begin my veterinarian journey. I am employed at my local vet office as a Vet Assistant. I started as an intern in January 2023 and was hired in October of 2023. While working at the vet office I have been able to experience blood draws, placing catheters, giving vaccines, holding patients safely and correctly, gathering all information about the patient from the owners, speaking on the phone, setting up appointments, watching surgeries, keeping the workplace clean and organized as well as making sure all patients are properly taken care of according to the veterinarian's instruction. I am currently working towards getting my level 1 certification to become a CVA (Certified Veterinarian Assistant). To be able to obtain this certification I must have 500 hours of veterinarian experience. 300 hours interning and 200 hours in class. I am involved in NHS, 4-H, Student Council and FFA. I have had the opportunity to show goats and horses as well as work with rescues in the Galveston County Area. My all-time favorite animal is the Red Panda. I spend as much time with animals as I can. In my lifetime, we have had a plethora of pets including dogs, cats, chickens, geese, guinea pigs, horses, and even a coral snake named Snappy Snap Princess Davis. When I was 15 we helped rehabilitate an Olympic gold medalist dressage Hanoverian mare who eventually became my own because her owner was scared of her, until she passed. She has taught me so much about horses, how to be patient and caring, how to manage my work, school, and personal life as well as the dedication it takes to be a good horse owner. She suffered from colic one night and my mom had to go and hand walk her from 11 pm to 4 am to try to get the gas bubble to move down. I have known I wanted to be a veterinarian since I was 5 years old. My work with animals and various groups over the years has shown me that I want to do more than just be a vet, I want to help the ones that are injured or unwanted as well as help educate the public on proper care for pets and wildlife. I plan to help groups like the TNR program as well as train owners on how to become the best owners they can be for their pets. The TNR program helps try to keep the cat population at a reasonable number. Cats are a highly invasive species and constantly reproduce. The TNR program will go out and find these wild cats and either spay or neuter them and release them back into the wild so they can no longer reproduce. Also having a rescue will help reduce the number of stray animals on the streets which will then help the public sanity because there will be less roadkill and less animal waste on the roads and public areas.

My dream used to be to become a veterinarian. Ever since I was young I have wanted to be a vet, for every career day at school. I would bring my stuffed animals with gauze wrapped around their leg, a doctor's coat, and a stethoscope. Even at parties, when I was around five years old, I would sneak off and find the room where the hostess would keep their pets. When I was around the age of eight my dog had a litter of puppies, we lived in a tiny home a barely had room for the two dogs we already had so we had to sell the puppies. One of the puppies got sold to a family friend and we went to their house for a pool party one day. After swimming for a bit I snuck off into the house and started playing with the puppy, my parents found me and tried to get me to go back outside and play in the pool but I was adamant about playing with the dog. Every time something was wrong with my animals I would try to figure out what was wrong and then if it got too bad we went to the vet. I would always ask the vet to see if my hypothesis was correct. When my dog had her puppies and I wasn't allowed to go to the back and watch the surgery I was very upset and cried until she got out. I was in charge of making sure she got her medicine, making sure the puppies were eating, and that she was healing correctly because there were some complications. As I have grown older I have tried to volunteer at shelters as much as I could. But the age requirements made it difficult. However, once I got into high school, my school started a vet med program and my class was the first to enter it. Once I started that class I looked for local vet practices that would take interns or volunteers so I could start getting my hours for my CVA certificate. I have been at this practice for about seven months currently and I have learned so much. I also attended a vet science camp last summer and this summer at Tarleton State University. They had many hands-on experiences and even licensed doctors and vet techs who were teaching us everything about being a veterinarian or vet tech. Although my dream was to become a veterinarian I have realized through interning and these camps that without a good vet tech, there isn't a good veterinarian. Vet techs do most of the heavy lifting to prepare the veterinarian. The veterinarian relies on the techs to gather all the information and history on the pet before they go into the room so they know what's going on and what plan of action they need to take. Technicians also prepare the surgery room and the patient before the veterinarian performs the surgery and they care for the animal after surgery and inform the owners how the procedure went, what medications they're on, and how to administer those medications for the animal to recover. Going to college will allow me to become a licensed veterinary technician and help the vet in any way I can. I enjoy going to school and I want to go to a school where I learn everything that I need to accomplish my dreams. I believe a good veterinary technician makes a good veterinarian and my goal is to be the best technician I can be for my Veterinarian.