I am a third-year undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Animal & Veterinary Sciences: Pre-Vet. After I graduate from the University of Idaho with my bachelor's degree, I plan to go to Veterinary School in Washington or Colorado. Since I am a big outdoors person, loving to hike and walk my dogs, having a place where I can pursue these activities alongside my career goals is vital. I have known that I wanted to be a Veterinarian since first grade, and that hasn't changed since. I was initially inspired by my mom, who was a Veterinary Technician. However, my passion for this career kept growing because so much of my heart is filled with love for animals. I started volunteering for our local Humane Society when I was in elementary school and have continued to do so up to the present day, volunteering at the Humane Society in my college town of Moscow, ID. Additionally, over the previous summer, I worked as a Veterinary Assistant, gaining over 400 hours of hands-on experience in the field. As I grew up, I lived with a plethora of animal breeds: dogs, cats, chickens, fish, guinea pigs, ferrets, and even geckos. At my family home, I have four dogs and three cats at the time when I left for college. Living without animals when I went to college was a huge problem for me. I decided to adopt a senior cat because of my love for animals. I adopted a 15-year-old senior cat who had Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, or better known as FIV. Senior cats have a harder time being adopted, specifically this cat because of his age and the FIV. Some more reasons senior cats have trouble being adopted are that most families want a little kitten, and it is hard to not have the cat for his whole life, knowing that he will probably only be with you for a short time is difficult to acknowledge. Getting this cat ended up being one of the best decisions for both of us. In terms of how I will make a positive impact on the world through my future Veterinary career, the possibilities are endless. I know how much I appreciate the Veterinary clinics that treat my pets as if they were their own. So, when I become a Veterinarian, I will do just that. My goal is to become an Emergency Room Veterinarian with an emphasis on small animals. As we all know, the emergency room is not a happy place, rather a place of stress and uncertainty. So, with the high stress of not knowing if their pet is going to make it, I have the plan to ensure that their pet could not be in better hands. Not only does this benefit the animal, but it also helps ease the owner. As one knows, owners are a huge part of the Veterinary world. Animals don't have the ability to stand up for themselves, so their human companions have to be the ones to do so. Being a Veterinarian who cares very deeply about the pet will make a positive impact on the world. Additionally, in my near future, I have hopes to go to Africa through a volunteer abroad trip and help nurture exotic animals back to health. Although my main goal is becoming an Emergency Room Veterinarian with an emphasis on small animals, I also dream of becoming an exotic animal Veterinarian with an emphasis on large animals. This trip will help me with this dream of mine as well.

From the start of my life, I have had a growing love for animals. In the first grade, when we shared our all about me posters, I had that I wanted to become a veterinarian when I grew up. Year after year, I heard, "Oh your mind will change, you won't want to do that when your older," eleven years later, and look at that my mind has not changed. My love for animals has only grown throughout these eleven years. The thing I love about myself is my consistency. The consistency to keep with my plans, and my interests. The consistency to want to pursue a career from such a young age, in the field that interests me the most, animal care. I must thank my mother for this love for animals. She was a veterinarian technician, so I imagine that this idea of becoming a veterinarian was because of seeing the animals that she worked with, and wanting to have amazing experiences with various animals as well.

Autism is a huge struggle; not only for the person with it but the people around them as well. I have an older sister with Autism. When I was younger I did not know that she had this so-called "disability." So, I would wonder why she did some of the things that she did. Although my sister is higher functioning, there are still many things that she struggles with. So, as I grew up I watched these struggles and saw how cruel other people could be towards her. This had made me try to view the world through her eyes. After doing this, I could now see that some of the struggles that she had, that I did not understand when I was younger, she couldn't help. She is one of the most empathetic, and kind people I have ever met, however, sometimes these great qualities about her are overlooked because of the social struggles she has. So, throughout the years, having an autistic sister has changed my views on everyone; I now realize that there is always an explanation as to why people do the things they do.