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All of Pickens Technical College’s courses are focused on getting you the experience you need to build a successful career in your chosen field. Pickens Technical College’s Veterinary Assistant program sets you up to earn your veterinary assistant’s certification so you can go right into a veterinary practice and start plying your trade. 

The beauty of Pickens is that anyone who wants to learn the skills of a veterinary assistant can. There are many success stories of people of all ages who entered this field via Pickens’ unique course and have gone on to successful careers. 

The importance of getting the hands-on experience of working with veterinarians and the animals is huge in this industry, and a good example of a success story in helping young people get that experience comes from a program in Houston, Texas. 

Veterinary Assistants

High School to the Pros

In Houston, the Alief ISD Center for Advanced Careers is offering high school students the chance to earn veterinary assistant certification. They’ll be able to use this certification immediately upon graduating. 

This program helps everyone. The high school students get 200 hours of classroom instruction and 300 hours of clinical work before graduation. Students attend Alief and perform veterinary services for the community for as low as five dollars. People can bring in their pets for routine procedures at a fraction of a cost. The students get experience, and, perhaps even more importantly, they get a chance to try a new vocation and skill before they commit fully to it. 

We’ve all been to high school and we know how difficult it can be to know what you want to ‘be.’ Many young people graduate with no idea what they want to study at the next level of their education, or even if they want to continue their education at all. The Alief program gives high school students interested in veterinary sciences the chance to try it out for a while before they jump in head-first.

Why Programs Like These are Important

What does this have to do with Pickens? If nothing else, programs like these, which are expected to start popping up all over the country, show how much interest there is in jobs like veterinary assistants all over the country. 

Another telling trend this program reveals is that young people are looking for alternatives to the four-year college experience. University costs are huge right now and showing no signs of dropping anytime soon. High school students especially are looking for the skills they need to start their careers as soon as possible, without the weight of student debt around their necks. 

 PTC is one of those alternatives to traditional colleges that is becoming more appealing to not only high school students, but adults trying to change careers. PTC’s high school programs give young people the chance to start building the skills they need for their careers, and the veterinary assistant program is a great place to start for recent graduates.