I have had a passion and respect for animals ever since I was a young girl. I remember at every party or house I went to, I would always ask if there was a cat or dog at the house. If there was, I would most likely spend the entire time playing with the animal and having the best time, which is still true to this day. This stemmed from the love that my parents had for animals. My parents always taught me to have a gentle love and respect for all creatures around me, even bugs as we would help them out of the house instead of squishing them. My family has always had the philosophy that our animals are more than pets, they are a member of our family just as much as a child or parent. This passion has led me to the statement that I have stuck by since the age of 9, I am going to be a veterinarian. Being so young and knowing what I want to do has led me to be on a path that is helping me to achieve my dream. However, in my senior year of high school, my family unexpectedly lost my dad. For a long time, I wondered if I was being selfish for getting ready to go to school, even so much to the point that I debated going to our local tech just to be close to my mom. Despite this, my entire family told me that I had to go because my dad was so proud of me and would brag about how his daughter was going to be a veterinarian and do something she loved so much. So I decided to go forward and do just that. I am now in my second year at the University of Wisconsin River Falls working toward my degree in Companion Animal Sciences on the pre-vet track. After I graduate from River Falls, I hope to go to vet school to achieve my dream. While in vet school, I want my emphasis to be mixed practice focusing on companions, exotics and avians as so many animals are of great interest to me. When I graduate from vet school, I hope to work for a clinic or zoo that shares the same values as me when it comes to the responsibility I believe we have for animals. I believe that people have the innate responsibility to be kind to animals as they are the purest thing that we have in this world. So I hope to work at a place that values this thought as much as I do, and I hope to be a veterinarian that people see as valuing their animals. I hope to be one of those kind and compassionate veterinarians that people trust with the members of their family and will continue to trust for the duration of their animal's life.