Personal Narrative: Becoming A Veterinary Technician

Becoming a Veterinary Technician Through my late teen years I envisioned living in Santa Monica, California. The warm climate, pet friendly areas, and being on my own were at the top of my list. I would be attending The Academy of Art University located in San Francisco, through online courses, majoring in fashion design. My “backup” passion would be the animal health and rescue field. I had always had a passion for animals, from showing Golden Retrievers and Netherland Dwarf rabbits, to my first official job as a feline caretaker with The Second Chance Humane Society at age thirteen. Upon entering the fashion world, I quickly discovered that I would have extreme difficulty with the stress levels due to competitiveness and the overwhelming
Part of being accepted into the program at Columbus State is passing the HOBET. The HOBET is the Health Occupations Basic Entrance Test, which is required by most health care degree programs. Entrance into the Veterinary Technician program also requires certain human vaccinations. The expensive and painful Tetanus, Rabies, and Tuberculin Testing are all in my near future! Within the program I will also participate in the Patient Animal Care Teams. Columbus State offers this program to get their students involved in caring for an animal they will be paired with. Time outside of classes will be spent watering, feeding, cleaning up after, walking and training these animals. After semesters of veterinary technician classes full of chemistry, biology, mathematics and VET courses, I will be required to register with the Ohio Veterinary Medical Licensing Board, to become a registered Veterinary Technician in the state of Ohio. I then plan to take the Veterinary Technician National Exam, to be recognized in more than forty states. Due to my plans to move to California, even more testing will be involved to ensure that I am a registered Veterinary Technician. To become a registered technician in the state of California, I will be testing to be accepted into the CaRVTA (California Registered Veterinary Technicians
I will be working and living in a state that is very animal friendly, with many groups actively helping animals medically and to find their forever homes. “No Kill Los Angeles is an initiative led by Best Friends Animal Society to turn Los Angeles into a no-kill city by the year 2017” (http://nkla.org/About). The initiative brings together animal shelters and welfare organizations in the greater Los Angeles area to aid the cause. NKLA will be a great place to work or volunteer my time, and my resume will continue to grow as I check off these milestones over the upcoming years of my life. It all begins with getting my foot in the door of the animal world. I am on a great path thus far with getting into college, getting a dog behavioral job at a canine daycare, and now being a Veterinary Technician Assistant at an animal hospital. I am excited for my future career, and the next few years of my life will greatly impact the way I get