Kevin Cooley holding a newborn on the job.
The animal health care industry centers around the love that animal owners have for their pets. Fundamentally, the industry is built upon the relationships that people maintain with their companions, and the decisions they make to maintain the health and comfort of their animals. It is not very often that college students are given the opportunity to experience firsthand this interaction, especially on the side of animal health professionals. However, Agricultural Business Management major, Kevin Cooley was give such an opportunity as a part of his 2018 summer internship. Like many of his fellow students at the Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA), Cooley wound up having some very unique experiences.
Cooley worked for Marymont Veterinary Hospital, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, and because he enjoyed his time on the job, he has continued to work through the beginning of this semester, while in school. Working at the Marymont, Cooley maintains, is rich with vastly different duties which are assigned to two separate job titles, kennel and technician. Of the many duties he was required to learn as a technician, his favorites are restraining the animals, handling their bloodwork, preforming enemas, running the x – ray machine, and administering fluids and medicines. Additionally, of all the kennel responsibilities, his favorite duties are feeding the dogs and maintaining the medicines for the animals staying overnight. His summer was far from the average summer of a college student; for instance, among the many duties that he was entrusted with, one that he found interesting and unique was the packing and disposing of dead animal carcasses. Even with experiencing some of the unpleasant aspects of the work, the internship made Cooley hungrier to get into the animal care world.
Cooley, a future veterinarian, says his internship experience has ultimately pushed him away from working at veterinary hospital in the future and more toward owning and working at a private practice. As he sees it, animal healthcare and husbandry are nearly fixed parts of his future. Importantly, he recognizes the drawbacks of the job, yet he takes them as they come.
For instance Cooley proclaimed, “Some days (at the internship) were very busy. I would get out at 10 pm. However, I learned about the treatment of the ailments that the animals can contract.”
His experiences have italicized to him what he wants to do in his future and highlighted what he does not want. Larissa Cioaca, his internship and IAA advisor, asserted “While an average student working at a veterinary kennel might have the same tasks every day, Kevin Cooley was entrusted with very important tasks related to animal care and that is a testament to his maturity and preparedness from his first year studying at the IAA.”
