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Paging Dr. Dolittle

Gavin – future veterinarian

Unlike Dr. Dolittle, I can't hear animals talk but I do love animals and care about their health. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be a veterinarian. When I was younger I wanted to have an animal hotel for unwanted animals and pets that were left behind when their owners went on vacation. Now that I am older, I've realize that I may not be able to have a pet hotel but as a veterinarian I can provide quality care and shelter for animals.

According to work.chron.com, "the path to becoming a veterinarian is not a short one. At minimum, veterinarians must obtain doctoral degrees from accredited schools of veterinary medicine." I will need the right education, mindset, and training. My parents always say "you get one chance to do your very best" .. "Admission in veterinarian school is highly competitive -- fewer than 50 percent of those who applied for admission in 2010 were accepted", according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- so my parents high expectations and advice should help me get accepted into a good doctoral program.

The opportunities that I could have in the future as a veterinarian are endless. I want to help people by providing therapy pet programs in schools and the workplaces. Healthline studies have shown that friendly therapy pets can help people with many physical and mental issues. Therapy pets can help reduce blood pressure and improve overall cardiovascular health, they can also cause a calming effect. I also want to build animal conservation like no other. This conservation site will be a refuge for endangered animals with food stations, water areas, exercise courses, and safe breeding pens for the animals.

I first learned about the importance of veterinarians when I was very young (around the age of 5 or 6), the entire story dates back to the day when I asked, "Mom, who helps all of the sick and injured animals?". From that day on, I knew what I wanted to be: a veterinarian.

Gavin's essay appears here as written, to preserve the young author’s unique voice and individual writing style. However, we have deleted personally identifiable information to protect the student’s privacy.