Deciding
on career path can be one of the most daunting decisions you must overcome as
young adult. The choice to pursue either college or university education at
barely 17 or 18 years of age does not permit for much time (if any) to
experience the working world, and only adds to the pressure of making such a
crucial decision; one that society believes will affect the rest of your life.
It wasn’t until just recently that I
now understand why I often heard people, peers, friends, and family members
tell me how lucky I am that I just “knew” what I wanted to be in life. And for
me the answer was simple: I wanted to become a veterinarian. (Might I point out
that this is much easier said than done – but I’ll get to that later.)
Sure, as young kids we all aspire to
be great figures of authority within society -firefighters, policemen, doctors
- or perhaps we dream to grow up just like our parents, becoming teachers,
engineers, or architects. But how many of us are actually lucky enough to get
there? Along the way we all get side-tracked, life intervenes, we discover new
avenues, and before you know it we’re off down a path our 5 year-old brains
didn’t even know existed.
My love for animals fueled my
passion to pursue veterinary medicine. From my earliest childhood memories I knew
that I wanted to help the creatures of this earth, great and small, and that
becoming a veterinarian was the path I was destined to follow. I knew it would
be tough, and I heard countless people tell me how extremely difficult it would
be to get accepted – boy were they right.
In my last year of high school I
elected to do a co-op placement (in a veterinary clinic of course) in order to
finally get my feet wet within the profession. I had no idea what to expect, and
honestly was quite nervous to see how it would compare with the visions in my
head. As fate would have it (and I still think of it that way) I was chosen to
do my placement at the Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic. It consisted of 3 hours
in the morning, Monday – Friday, for about 5 months. But that ended far too
quickly for my liking.
And so I headed off to UOIT where I
completed a bachelor’s degree in biological science, and during my summers off
I came back here to volunteer whenever I could. By this time I had done enough
research to know (and scare myself) about what it would take to get accepted
into the Ontario Veterinary College – where there are only 100 seats per year
for Ontario residents…yikes. Being one of the top veterinary schools in the world,
I knew it wouldn’t be easy. Most accepted applicants have thousands upon
thousands of hours of veterinary and animal experience, in addition to academic
averages in the 85-95% range. If this wasn’t hard enough, well-rounded
applicants typically have thousands of extracurricular hours as well. It seemed
like a near impossible feat.
So I buried my head in the
textbooks, and spent as much time as I could volunteering. It was another truly
fateful day when I received a phone call from none other than the Bowmanville
Veterinary Clinic offering me a position as a Veterinary Assistant. I was
absolutely ecstatic that such an opportunity had arisen, and could not be
happier to join such a fantastic team of individuals, committed to the welfare
and care of animals. It was enlightening to see all the time and hard work I
had invested start to pay off.
As you are reading this, I have been
working here for just over a year, and have loved every second of it. Thanks to
the Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic, and their unwavering belief and support, I
was on my way to gaining the experience that would make me a competitive
applicant.
After taking several months to
prepare my application, I was selected as one of the top 200 applicants chosen
to undergo the grueling interview process. Drawing on my experiences here at
the clinic helped in more ways than I can explain, and I can happily tell you
that less than two weeks ago I received my acceptance into the Ontario Veterinary
College, Class of 2020 – the single greatest moment of my life. My dream of
becoming a veterinarian is now closer than ever.
I often look back to that moment in
high school, when I was selected by the Bowmanville Veterinary Clinic to
complete my co-op placement. At the time I did not fully appreciate the
significance of that event, but now I cannot help but notice how important a
role it played. Without their support, I would not be where I am today.
The most important thing I learned
through this journey (which is far from over) is to follow your dreams, believe
in yourself, and don’t give up. Turn your dreams into reality, and live the
life you always imagined.
Stephanie Spencer, OVC 2020
