Williamson County Students Get an Introduction to the Vet Life

As future accountants in Buffalo learned last week, one of the best ways to really understand a career path is to get a taste of it early on. In Austin, TX, high school students considering veterinary technician degrees can do just that through a 4H-sponsored program that teaches the opening ropes of a career in veterinary medicine.

[Shane] Newsome, 19, will be the first graduate of Williamson County’s veterinary science program, a project of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Williamson County 4-H. The program gives students the opportunity to explore a career in veterinary medicine through classroom lectures, laboratory experience and work with a veterinarian.

It is also one way to address the national shortage of large-animal veterinarians, while helping students prepare for the test to become a certified veterinary technician before they graduate from high school, said David Wright, an extension service agent.

The program is available in both standard five-year and accelerated two-year versions, and has grown from 25 students in its first year (2007) to triple the size just two years later, with plans to expand even farther. The program has even recently partnered with top veterinary technician school Texas A&M University. Thanks to the success of this program, the national veterinarian shortage could be curbed with a whole new generation of dedicated vets on our hands.

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