Overview:
Students who participate in Vet 101 at the Stock Show have the opportunity to learn about the job from industry professionals.
As the cold stethoscope slowly presses against the horse’s dark brown coat just along the underside of its belly, Taylor, a local high school student, searches for a pulse. The horse is calm. Taylor glides gently with the stethoscope, searching for something—a faint pulse. The heartbeat.
For other young adults like Taylor who want to pursue a career in animal health, the Vet 101 program at the National Western Stock Show is more than just an opportunity to excel; it is also a place to hone their skills and try out a potential profession.
“I wanted to do the Vet 101 program because I have my third quarter off at school and I’m doing a capstone project,” Taylor said. “So I’m working on reassembling the skeleton right now and shadowing a bunch of veterinarians in Colorado.”
Taylor also wants to focus on networking and advancing her career options if she were to attend college after high school graduation. At least 40 local high school students are put to work interacting with animals under the supervision of group leaders for the three-hour program.
In Vet 101, students are educated on skills vital for their professional development in the agriculture and veterinary industries. Some of these techniques included learning to do ultrasounds, looking closely at skeletal structures and equestrian studies, including the heart monitoring of various animals such as steers, horses and lambs.
Group lead and equipment specialist for sound diagnostics, Tori Fischer, works with the students using ultrasounds and shows them not only it is used but also how to use it on themselves. Students had the opportunity to apply a solution to their wrists and follow up with gel and a probe.
“I’m hoping to educate them and let them know that there is more than one path to success,” Fischer said. “There’s so much to learn about that, especially in livestock, and even though we just dipped our toes in it today, it kind of opened up a door for people to walk through, which I think is really special.”
The program, launched in 2018, gave a new meaning to hands-on experience outside the classroom.
“We took it one step further back to high school students,” said Dr. Jennifer Hartman, one of the co-founders and now program coordinator. “Who are we getting ready to apply for college, apply for jobs, apply for junior college, wherever they might be wanting to go and give them an opportunity to see veterinary medicine that is very much geared around one event.”
Students were split into four cohorts and assigned to a group lead. Many of the leads, such as Fischer, were industry insiders, but others included college students and Denver Mountaineer police.
Jalen, another student in the program, reflected, “I think that having this experience in my high school career is beneficial because I get to meet people that are also interested in the same things as I am, as well as getting to learn the insights of the vet industry.”
Senior CSU veterinary student Alaina Tab is in her sixth year working with the Vet 101. “I helped out with Dr. Laurie Scott and we showed them how to do some physical exam skills on the steer,” Tab said. “It’s a great networking opportunity because I know in high school, it is really difficult to kind of get your foot in the door…and I think that stuff like this is a great opportunity to do that.”
Even parents who sat beside the bleachers as their children passed through the gates appreciated opportunities like these.
“Hopefully [it] gives her a little more direction on if that is the career path that she’s interested in,” said Laressa, as her child was a participant herself in the Stock Show event. “I am definitely grateful that people are willing to put in the time, effort and money to give her the opportunity to check this out. It could affect her future and her choices for profession.”
Dr. Lori Scott, a livestock veterinarian for the National Western Stock Show, along with her husband, Dr. Mike Scott, have worked with the stock show for quite some time and believe the Vet 101 program is an essential part of preserving the industry.
“It can [continue] on the tradition of, you know, livestock medicine and veterinary medicine,” Scott said. “We try to show them stuff that they’ve never seen before. A lot of these kids have never even been this close to cattle or sheep. It’s an industry that we need to promote too because we’re losing people and interests, especially in the livestock industry.”
“We have had some students that have let us know they’ve gone into pre-vet studies at school and so hopefully they’ll stick with that,” Lori said. ”But also, they’ve had some that have decided not to go all the way to [be a] veterinarian, but they do want to go work in the field. We’ve gotten to see them come back as they work for a breed association, or they’ve decided to go to the technology side; they’re designing a lot of the tools that we’ll be using.”
