We believe that work experience is a very important part of a student’s learning. We also believe that working in summer can help reduce veterinary students mounting debt load! In providing students with real-life, in-hospital, hands-on experience they will gain invaluable skills and exposure to their chosen industry!
Meet our Student!
Name: Brenna Eikenbary
Age: 19
Hometown: Napa, CA
College studying at: Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Class of 2021
Why did you decide to join the veterinary industry?
I have always been passionate about animals. In preschool, I told my class that my favorite animal was an okapi. In second grade I spent the entire summer working to raise money for the Cheetah Conservation Fund. (Where I will actually be interning next month in Africa!) Whether it was days spent at Connolly Ranch growing up or later in life; at the Vintage High School Farm, Napa Wildlife Rescue Center, the Marine Mammal Center, or now at California Pet Hospital, I have never veered far from that same fascination with animals. All my life I dreamed of being a veterinarian. But I truly decided that was my path my junior year of high school when I helped release elephant seal pups back into the ocean, after spending months working to rehabilitate them. I had watched these pups come in 200 pounds underweight, hugging the heating pads. At their release, I watched them land on the sand, plump and fully prepared for the world in front of them. At that moment, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life rehabilitating wildlife.
What are you looking forward to most about being a vet?
I look forward to rehabilitating individual animals, as well as working to protect the ecosystems they exist in, by promoting community education and sustainability. I also look forward to going into a field where you can never stop learning. There is always room to question and discover new things!
What is the most interesting thing you have done/ learned at school?
Last quarter, I had this incredible One-Health class which discussed the connections between human medicine, animal medicine, and the environment as a holistic unit for understanding disease. I learned that according to the Center for Disease Control, 75% of emerging diseases are zoonotic. This means they are spread between animals and humans. Therefore, veterinarians are playing a crucial role in helping to understand new disease outbreaks and formulating ways to protect against the spread of these new diseases.
Brenna has been working at California Pet Hospital over the summer of 2018!
