Blog #1 - Getting Ready: The location I will be interning at is the San Marcos Veterinary Clinic. The person that I will be shadowing during this month long adventure as an intern is Paul. At San Marcos Veterinary Clinic Paul is a Purina Weight Loss Coach, as well as Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT). While on my adventure with San Marcos Veterinary Clinic,I plan on being able to assist the San Marcos Veterinary Clinic Team in as many ways as I can. Also, I hope to be able watch tons of awesome surgeries as well as learn how to give the animals there injections and learn about animal health. Something I am very excited to learn about during this Internship would be to learn about what it is like to be a Veterinarian and if this a career path I would like to pursue. I hope that through this internship it will allow me to figure out what career path I would like to pursue, because animal health has always been something I was very intrigued by. Veterinary Medicine has always intrigued me because I love helping others and it has been something I have enjoyed, it would also allow me to be around animals which I would love especially growing up with many pets and growing that love for them. Something that I am very nervous about for this internship would have to be passing out during a surgery, I have only seen simple surgeries and they weren't very bloody so it was not a big deal but I do not know how I feel about the more invasive surgeries. Something else that I am quite nervous about would be messing something up, in the field of veterinary science communication is a very crucial skill and if I mess something up, I could potentially endanger the life of somebodies pet and that is something I worry about.
Blog #2 - First Impressions: Something that strikes me most about the workplace would have to be the amount of communication that goes into the day to day operations. When your there it seems as if somebody is talking at all times and they all know what the person's next plan is without having to explain what they are gonna do. In a way it seems that they are all mind readers but it is really just very strong communication skills between one another as well as attention to detail and listening skills. Something that strikes me about my colleagues would have to be how inviting they are, this struck me at first because when I thought I was just gonna be in the way all the time and they would get annoyed with my presence. However, it was the complete opposite, they have always tried there hardest to incorporate me into the day to day operations as well as teach me the things I need to know and that is something I appreciate very much. They also all try to get to know me on a personal level as well which is something that struck me as well. Something that strikes me about the job I am doing is that give me a ton of freedom. They give me a ton of freedom and it strikes me because this is only my first day on the job and they have already allowed me to do so much! During the first day they have allowed me to walk the dogs on my own, bath the dogs, wake them up after surgery, and even pull out there breathing tube. Something I am extremely excited for is being able to learn more than I already have! During the one day I have been here I have already learned so much and I can tell this is gonna be an awesome internship. However, even though I am extremely excited for what this internship has in store, I also have many worries. Something I am most worried about would have to be that they allow me to have so much freedom, this is a worry of mine because I am not an expert, I am still learning a lot of things and with the amount of freedom I am given I feel that I could potentially put an animal at risk and that is something I worry about.
Blog #3 - Mentor Interview & Internship Journal: During internship today I kindly asked my mentor Paul if I could interview him about his job as well as his schooling. Leading up to the interview I created some questions that I had about him as well as his job. Eventually, we conducted the interview, Paul had requested that I send him my questions through email and I did. The questions and answers for the interview are listed below:
Interview with Paul:
1. What is your job title?
- Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT)
2. How did you end up doing the job that you do?
- Have always wanted to work with animals, started as a kennel attendant and worked my way up to lead technician.
3. What are your main duties and responsibilities?
- Monitoring all patients under anesthesia, all dental procedures, monitor all employees.
4. What Skills and training are necessary for this position?
- When working as an RVT you need to be able to read animal's behaviors as well as be able to react to bad situations and fast in cases of aggression.
5. How did you acquire these skills? Through School? On the job?
- Both.
6. Do you consider a career in this field satisfying? If so, in what ways?
- Yes. We will see patients come in looking very bad and unhealthy and when they go home they have their energy back and are happy to go with their owners.
7. What was your college experience like? What did you study and for how long?
- It was good. I had studied all the necessary classes in order to pass my California state boards. When it came to the amount I was studying it took me a year and half but it will usually takes two years.
The next prompt I was given was to be able to reflect on my internship so far as well as talk about any questions I may still have. This week's prompt required me to answer some questions regarding my internship. The questions I was given to reflect on first week of internship are listed below:
1. What questions do you have about your internship?
- When it comes to having questions about my internship, I can't come up with any. This is because my mentor Paul has done such a great job at explaining to me how things work around San Marcos Veterinary Clinic. Paul has also been very kind and has answered all the questions I have ever had and so have the rest of the staff.
2. What connections can you make between this internship and what you've done in school?
- Going to a project based school it has taught me a lot. Throughout the course of my three years of school at High Tech High North County I have learned how to communicate efficiently as well as learn from my peers. When it comes to the connections between my internship and the skills I have gained while going to High Tech I would say that being able to communicate efficiently would be the biggest connection for the two.
3. Has anything happened that's worth telling us about? Funny stories?
- Being at San Marcos Veterinary Clinic there have been many funny stories. However, there are many that are too inappropriate to be putting on the internet.
4. What have you learned about your organization's mission and purpose?
- Over the course of my stay at San Marcos Veterinary Clinic I have learned that they care deeply about providing every patient with the best care possible. They would also like to answer any questions that you may have but overall they would want you too feel comfortable in knowing that your furry friend will be getting treated with the best care out there.
5. What new skills are you developing (or will you need to develop) for this internship?
- I'm learning tons of new skills while on this Internship. However, they are not skills that I will be doing daily while I am back at school. They are more of Veterinary Skills . But the skills being developed are more of motor skills because you have to learn how to use muscles in your hand that you may have never used before, this is because you need to know how to use the medical instruments.
6. How are you getting to and from internship? What's it like to be commuting?
- I'm getting to and from my internship by driving myself. The commute isn't bad at all. If anything it is a lot closer then the commute to school so it isn't bad at all.
Blog #4 - My Internship Project: For my internship project I will be creating two things. The project ideas were given to me by mentor, we had discussed about my project and he said that he would think it would be amazing if I could create a brochure about the kinds of injections that your pets will recieve and how you could give them at home. After the meeting with my mentor and Mrs. GC, she had requested that I create two projects. After the meeting, my mentor Paul and I decided that I would be creating the brochure on the injections as well as a brochure on why your pets should receive dental work. In order for the outcome of these brochures to be awesome I feel that I will need to have a few skills. I feel the skills that will be needed to create awesome brochures would have to be research based skills such as analysis. Some of the other skills that will be needed to create an awesome brochure would have to be in adobe illustrator as well as photoshop, programs that I have skill in already. I will need skill in those programs so that I could take the time to create awesome images for the brochures. Overall, the process of creating these brochures is very individual and it will require a lot of time and research. However, I may need some support from the techs at the clinic to be able to look over my work so that I am not creating brochures with the information that is not accurate or is incorrect.
Blog #5 - Journal Self Advocacy: During the course of my internship so far, there has been a ton of times where I have seen self advocacy being shown. Throughout my internship I have shown a lot of it myself, whenever I am uncomfortable with a situation I will still leave my comfort zone but if I find myself needing help I will pursue help and support from my mentor. When I feel uncomfortable I feel that it is important that I leave my comfort zone because it something that allows us to grow as a person and that is a value of mine. Overall, throughout my internship I feel that I have been following the advice so that I could be an intern that they remember. Since the first day of my internship they have treated me like family and have never left me out of loop. When on site they are always joking around and they don't leave me out of loop, when there it isn't awkward and they all feel like friends rather then my mentors. Overall, I feel that I have done a good job of being an intern that they will remember.
Blog #6 - "Starter Set" : In this Blog post you will see a few of the pictures I have taken of the site I am interning at! This post is to show you my "Starter Set" of photos that I have compiled. If you look below you will see my "Starter Set" of photos that I have compiled:
Blog #2 - First Impressions: Something that strikes me most about the workplace would have to be the amount of communication that goes into the day to day operations. When your there it seems as if somebody is talking at all times and they all know what the person's next plan is without having to explain what they are gonna do. In a way it seems that they are all mind readers but it is really just very strong communication skills between one another as well as attention to detail and listening skills. Something that strikes me about my colleagues would have to be how inviting they are, this struck me at first because when I thought I was just gonna be in the way all the time and they would get annoyed with my presence. However, it was the complete opposite, they have always tried there hardest to incorporate me into the day to day operations as well as teach me the things I need to know and that is something I appreciate very much. They also all try to get to know me on a personal level as well which is something that struck me as well. Something that strikes me about the job I am doing is that give me a ton of freedom. They give me a ton of freedom and it strikes me because this is only my first day on the job and they have already allowed me to do so much! During the first day they have allowed me to walk the dogs on my own, bath the dogs, wake them up after surgery, and even pull out there breathing tube. Something I am extremely excited for is being able to learn more than I already have! During the one day I have been here I have already learned so much and I can tell this is gonna be an awesome internship. However, even though I am extremely excited for what this internship has in store, I also have many worries. Something I am most worried about would have to be that they allow me to have so much freedom, this is a worry of mine because I am not an expert, I am still learning a lot of things and with the amount of freedom I am given I feel that I could potentially put an animal at risk and that is something I worry about.
Blog #3 - Mentor Interview & Internship Journal: During internship today I kindly asked my mentor Paul if I could interview him about his job as well as his schooling. Leading up to the interview I created some questions that I had about him as well as his job. Eventually, we conducted the interview, Paul had requested that I send him my questions through email and I did. The questions and answers for the interview are listed below:
Interview with Paul:
1. What is your job title?
- Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT)
2. How did you end up doing the job that you do?
- Have always wanted to work with animals, started as a kennel attendant and worked my way up to lead technician.
3. What are your main duties and responsibilities?
- Monitoring all patients under anesthesia, all dental procedures, monitor all employees.
4. What Skills and training are necessary for this position?
- When working as an RVT you need to be able to read animal's behaviors as well as be able to react to bad situations and fast in cases of aggression.
5. How did you acquire these skills? Through School? On the job?
- Both.
6. Do you consider a career in this field satisfying? If so, in what ways?
- Yes. We will see patients come in looking very bad and unhealthy and when they go home they have their energy back and are happy to go with their owners.
7. What was your college experience like? What did you study and for how long?
- It was good. I had studied all the necessary classes in order to pass my California state boards. When it came to the amount I was studying it took me a year and half but it will usually takes two years.
The next prompt I was given was to be able to reflect on my internship so far as well as talk about any questions I may still have. This week's prompt required me to answer some questions regarding my internship. The questions I was given to reflect on first week of internship are listed below:
1. What questions do you have about your internship?
- When it comes to having questions about my internship, I can't come up with any. This is because my mentor Paul has done such a great job at explaining to me how things work around San Marcos Veterinary Clinic. Paul has also been very kind and has answered all the questions I have ever had and so have the rest of the staff.
2. What connections can you make between this internship and what you've done in school?
- Going to a project based school it has taught me a lot. Throughout the course of my three years of school at High Tech High North County I have learned how to communicate efficiently as well as learn from my peers. When it comes to the connections between my internship and the skills I have gained while going to High Tech I would say that being able to communicate efficiently would be the biggest connection for the two.
3. Has anything happened that's worth telling us about? Funny stories?
- Being at San Marcos Veterinary Clinic there have been many funny stories. However, there are many that are too inappropriate to be putting on the internet.
4. What have you learned about your organization's mission and purpose?
- Over the course of my stay at San Marcos Veterinary Clinic I have learned that they care deeply about providing every patient with the best care possible. They would also like to answer any questions that you may have but overall they would want you too feel comfortable in knowing that your furry friend will be getting treated with the best care out there.
5. What new skills are you developing (or will you need to develop) for this internship?
- I'm learning tons of new skills while on this Internship. However, they are not skills that I will be doing daily while I am back at school. They are more of Veterinary Skills . But the skills being developed are more of motor skills because you have to learn how to use muscles in your hand that you may have never used before, this is because you need to know how to use the medical instruments.
6. How are you getting to and from internship? What's it like to be commuting?
- I'm getting to and from my internship by driving myself. The commute isn't bad at all. If anything it is a lot closer then the commute to school so it isn't bad at all.
Blog #4 - My Internship Project: For my internship project I will be creating two things. The project ideas were given to me by mentor, we had discussed about my project and he said that he would think it would be amazing if I could create a brochure about the kinds of injections that your pets will recieve and how you could give them at home. After the meeting with my mentor and Mrs. GC, she had requested that I create two projects. After the meeting, my mentor Paul and I decided that I would be creating the brochure on the injections as well as a brochure on why your pets should receive dental work. In order for the outcome of these brochures to be awesome I feel that I will need to have a few skills. I feel the skills that will be needed to create awesome brochures would have to be research based skills such as analysis. Some of the other skills that will be needed to create an awesome brochure would have to be in adobe illustrator as well as photoshop, programs that I have skill in already. I will need skill in those programs so that I could take the time to create awesome images for the brochures. Overall, the process of creating these brochures is very individual and it will require a lot of time and research. However, I may need some support from the techs at the clinic to be able to look over my work so that I am not creating brochures with the information that is not accurate or is incorrect.
Blog #5 - Journal Self Advocacy: During the course of my internship so far, there has been a ton of times where I have seen self advocacy being shown. Throughout my internship I have shown a lot of it myself, whenever I am uncomfortable with a situation I will still leave my comfort zone but if I find myself needing help I will pursue help and support from my mentor. When I feel uncomfortable I feel that it is important that I leave my comfort zone because it something that allows us to grow as a person and that is a value of mine. Overall, throughout my internship I feel that I have been following the advice so that I could be an intern that they remember. Since the first day of my internship they have treated me like family and have never left me out of loop. When on site they are always joking around and they don't leave me out of loop, when there it isn't awkward and they all feel like friends rather then my mentors. Overall, I feel that I have done a good job of being an intern that they will remember.
Blog #6 - "Starter Set" : In this Blog post you will see a few of the pictures I have taken of the site I am interning at! This post is to show you my "Starter Set" of photos that I have compiled. If you look below you will see my "Starter Set" of photos that I have compiled:
Blog #7 - POL Preparation: For this blog post I will be answering 2 or 3 questions regarding my presentation. The questions I will be answering are about my internship and asking about how I have made an impact at my internship site as well as how this will affect my education and career in the future. The questions I will be answering are in two parts, you can see the questions I have been prompted to answer. The questions I will be answering are listed below:
Part 1 - Respond to 2 or 3 questions from the following list:
1. How did you measure the success of the work you did while you were an intern? What did you learn from this?
2. How did you make a meaningful contribution to your workplace?
3. How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education?
4. How was your work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school and your specific internship site?
5. How did your project go from an idea or inspiration to a final product?
6. What did you learn about your own work from your internship project?
The questions I will be answering are questions 2,3, and 4. The answers are quite simple, when it comes to how my work as an intern has been meaningful to the workplace I would say that it has been meaningful since the third week of my internship. After about the second week or so, I was eventually given the ability to complete my own tasks and I would say that it has contributed to the staff because it allows everybody to divide and conquer and complete the tasks that need to be completed. I would also say that I have made a meaningful contribution by being able to complete my own tasks without having to be asked to so I would say that it allows them to complete the more difficult tasks. Next question, as far as my project goes I feel that it will contribute to the staff at the Clinic by allowing them to have a brochure that they can possibly give to their clients so it could save them time when it comes to teaching them how to give an injection or even give to them after they have already been taught as just a reminder in case they forget. In the end that is if they actually like the outcome of my final product and would find it helpful to give to clients. The final question, I would say that this opportunity to be able to intern at the Clinic has been an amazing opportunity that I will remember for a long time. When it comes to how it is meaningful to my education I would say that it has effected me by allowing me to understand more of what the job entails as well as a lot of the stuff I will be learning in college if this ends of being a career I choose to pursue in college.
Part 2 - Respond to 2 or 3 questions from the following list:
1. What new appreciations did you develop while working as an intern? Why?
2. What qualities or characteristics did you see in the people around you that you want to develop in yourself? Why?
3. How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern?
4. What new questions has your internship inspired you to ask about our world? What has it made you wonder about? What are you moved to go out and do or learn about on your own time?
5. How might internship influence the direction of your life?
6. How did interpersonal relationships and/or collaboration at work influence your understanding of life outside of high school?
For this section I will be answering questions 1 and 5. First off, while working as an intern at the Clinic I have seen many surgeries. They have been very eye opening, however I have never had surgery and after seeing so many I have found a new appreciation for modern medicine because without it I would not ever be able to have a surgery if need be. Modern Medicine would have to be a new appreciation of mine as well because while working at the clinic you also see all the science that goes into creating a drug that will help with your sickness or condition. This has been something I have definitely appreciated a ton more since Zoetis has visited the site and talked about the new drugs they have created as well as the science behind how they work. Finally, this internship will affect me by giving me an idea of where I would like to pursue a career in, this is a field I have found a ton of interest in and I am glad I have been able to intern at the Clinic.
Blog #8 - Final Products: In this blog post you will see the pictures that I have compiled over the course of my internship at the San Marcos Veterinary Clinic, as well as my project and I will give a brief interview of it. For the first part of this blog post I will be talking about the process of gathering the pictures for this was quite difficult because it was hard to gather pictures where there was not a patient present, I was not allowed to post a picture of the patients on the internet because there work is confidential. However, I was able to gather a few photos of the site so you could the area and get an idea of what an animal hospital behind the scenes looks like.
Part 1 - Photo Essay:
Part 1 - Respond to 2 or 3 questions from the following list:
1. How did you measure the success of the work you did while you were an intern? What did you learn from this?
2. How did you make a meaningful contribution to your workplace?
3. How was your work as an intern meaningful to your education?
4. How was your work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school and your specific internship site?
5. How did your project go from an idea or inspiration to a final product?
6. What did you learn about your own work from your internship project?
The questions I will be answering are questions 2,3, and 4. The answers are quite simple, when it comes to how my work as an intern has been meaningful to the workplace I would say that it has been meaningful since the third week of my internship. After about the second week or so, I was eventually given the ability to complete my own tasks and I would say that it has contributed to the staff because it allows everybody to divide and conquer and complete the tasks that need to be completed. I would also say that I have made a meaningful contribution by being able to complete my own tasks without having to be asked to so I would say that it allows them to complete the more difficult tasks. Next question, as far as my project goes I feel that it will contribute to the staff at the Clinic by allowing them to have a brochure that they can possibly give to their clients so it could save them time when it comes to teaching them how to give an injection or even give to them after they have already been taught as just a reminder in case they forget. In the end that is if they actually like the outcome of my final product and would find it helpful to give to clients. The final question, I would say that this opportunity to be able to intern at the Clinic has been an amazing opportunity that I will remember for a long time. When it comes to how it is meaningful to my education I would say that it has effected me by allowing me to understand more of what the job entails as well as a lot of the stuff I will be learning in college if this ends of being a career I choose to pursue in college.
Part 2 - Respond to 2 or 3 questions from the following list:
1. What new appreciations did you develop while working as an intern? Why?
2. What qualities or characteristics did you see in the people around you that you want to develop in yourself? Why?
3. How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern?
4. What new questions has your internship inspired you to ask about our world? What has it made you wonder about? What are you moved to go out and do or learn about on your own time?
5. How might internship influence the direction of your life?
6. How did interpersonal relationships and/or collaboration at work influence your understanding of life outside of high school?
For this section I will be answering questions 1 and 5. First off, while working as an intern at the Clinic I have seen many surgeries. They have been very eye opening, however I have never had surgery and after seeing so many I have found a new appreciation for modern medicine because without it I would not ever be able to have a surgery if need be. Modern Medicine would have to be a new appreciation of mine as well because while working at the clinic you also see all the science that goes into creating a drug that will help with your sickness or condition. This has been something I have definitely appreciated a ton more since Zoetis has visited the site and talked about the new drugs they have created as well as the science behind how they work. Finally, this internship will affect me by giving me an idea of where I would like to pursue a career in, this is a field I have found a ton of interest in and I am glad I have been able to intern at the Clinic.
Blog #8 - Final Products: In this blog post you will see the pictures that I have compiled over the course of my internship at the San Marcos Veterinary Clinic, as well as my project and I will give a brief interview of it. For the first part of this blog post I will be talking about the process of gathering the pictures for this was quite difficult because it was hard to gather pictures where there was not a patient present, I was not allowed to post a picture of the patients on the internet because there work is confidential. However, I was able to gather a few photos of the site so you could the area and get an idea of what an animal hospital behind the scenes looks like.
Part 1 - Photo Essay:
Part 2 - My Internship Project, Explained:
For my internship project I created a brochure on how to give injections, there are many that are given and for many different reasons. However, I decided to focus on the two that will have to be given to a pet at home. Those two injections are a subcutaneous injection and an intramuscular injection. This project was important because it allowed me to create a brochure on something that I was learning on the site at the same time. It was also important because it was a project that in the end could still benefit the clinic at the end which was my main goal. When working on this project it required me to ask a lot of questions to my mentors because it was something I was also learning about but it also required a lot of research as well.
For my internship project I created a brochure on how to give injections, there are many that are given and for many different reasons. However, I decided to focus on the two that will have to be given to a pet at home. Those two injections are a subcutaneous injection and an intramuscular injection. This project was important because it allowed me to create a brochure on something that I was learning on the site at the same time. It was also important because it was a project that in the end could still benefit the clinic at the end which was my main goal. When working on this project it required me to ask a lot of questions to my mentors because it was something I was also learning about but it also required a lot of research as well.
Blog #9 - College and Career Connections:
When it comes to how this internship it will ultimately make a big impact on my career pathway and where I would like to go to college. When it came to my internship it would definitely impact my life because it was something I really enjoyed and this is a profession I would love to pursue. This career has always something I have always wanted to pursue, ever since I was a child. The idea of becoming a veterinarian since I was a child has been in the back of my mind ever since I first visited my grandparents ranch and saw all the animals and told them that I would like to become a vet so that I could take care of the animals. When it came to my colleagues they were all encouraging me to get the best education possible and wanting me to do something that I would love as well as giving me tips to become successful in pursuing a career in veterinary medicine.
When it comes to how this internship it will ultimately make a big impact on my career pathway and where I would like to go to college. When it came to my internship it would definitely impact my life because it was something I really enjoyed and this is a profession I would love to pursue. This career has always something I have always wanted to pursue, ever since I was a child. The idea of becoming a veterinarian since I was a child has been in the back of my mind ever since I first visited my grandparents ranch and saw all the animals and told them that I would like to become a vet so that I could take care of the animals. When it came to my colleagues they were all encouraging me to get the best education possible and wanting me to do something that I would love as well as giving me tips to become successful in pursuing a career in veterinary medicine.