Find Your Passion and Purpose With Tulsa Tech’s Veterinary Assistant Class

What is your passion? It seems like a simple question, but the answers can be endless. New advice from counselors says instead of looking for a job you are passionate about, find one that gives you a purpose.
Tulsa Tech Adjunct Instructor Jeanette Reed found a job that checks both boxes. As a Veterinary Technician, she gets to fulfill her passion for animals by taking care of them when they are sick, and now she is teaching a class to help more people break into the veterinary field as a veterinary assistant.
“It is a very beginner crash course,” Reed said. “It tells you how a veterinary hospital is run, the different kinds of staff members, and what you need to do if you want to move on.”
The evening Veterinary Assistant class started last fall and is expanding this spring and summer to two classes. Reed says the class is set up to help people find their path inside veterinary medicine.
“People see this in the catalog and say ‘hey what’s this all about’,” Reed quipped. “This can introduce them to all sorts of careers in veterinary medicine and open up doors to what is available in a vet hospital.”
The class offers students hands-on learning. Reed says this is the perfect class for people who love animals, and the best way to check out what it is like to be a veterinarian before starting college.
“Our time is short, only about six weeks,” Reed stated. “It’ll help you examine what you really want to do in a vet hospital without wasting any of your time or money.”
It is also different from other veterinary classes because of who is teaching it.
“As a veterinary technician, I can teach them in ways doctors don’t always pick up,” Reed commented. “The class gives students some good skills and can help them decide on their future.”
The class includes a 10-hour internship in a vet office. That experience combined with classroom material provides the opportunity for students to enter the field as a veterinary assistant or continue their education to become a veterinary doctor.
Veterinary assistants are needed nationwide. The most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the career will grow 19 percent before the end of the decade. That is nearly five times the national average of four percent.
For Reed, going on to become a veterinarian was never in the cards. She finds her career as a veterinary technician the most rewarding, simply because of the time, she can spend with the patient.
“I have always loved animals,” Reed said with a smile. “I found being a vet tech, we get to do the fun stuff, we get to interact with the animals and share the love with the animals and form a bond with each animal.”
So if you are just getting started in your career or looking for a way to keep working while getting something positive out of it, Reed suggests considering taking this veterinary assistant class.
“This is a good introduction to what to expect,” Reed said. “I can’t cover everything, but I think it will help people make the decision on what they want to do going forward.”
If you are currently looking for exciting classes for high school and adult students, quality corporate training, or a challenging new career, Tulsa Tech invites you to visit today. For more information, please call 918-828-5000 or visit us online at tulsatech.edu.