I Do it For Fido by Julia

I Do it For Fido by Julia - December 2015 Scholarship Essay

A blonde eight year old girl looks up at me with tear stained blue eyes. I undo the latch, walk into the small room and carefully crouch down to meet eyes with the girl’s loyal companion. I pick up the precious furry life and carefully place him into the girl’s arms. As the two meet, an army of tears rush down the girl’s eyes. Her parents join the embrace with enormous smiles. I imagine the beautiful bond that will blossom between this girl and her new best friend and I can feel my heart warm. Her mother signs the final form and everything is complete. I snap the very first picture of the family and its new addition, and with the click of the camera, their promising future is sealed.
It is moments like these that reassure me and remind me of my ultimate goal: To become a veterinarian. The animal shelter, for me, is a sort of haven, and volunteering there is one of the most rewarding activities I take part in. While I do take as many advanced classes as I can, try to familiarize myself more with biology, and actively exercise really helpful communication/leadership skills in my school’s Leadership Academy, nothing is quite as fulfilling and beneficial as helping people find the animal companion of their dreams. The funny thing is that I have never been a “people person”. After my recent veterinarian epiphany I realized that my lack of social skills and severely awkward personality would definitely stunt the achievement of my ultimate goal, but in my experience with volunteering at the animal shelter I actually feel overwhelming joy for both the people and animals I help pair together. When I assist with an adoption, the interaction comes naturally and this is a skill I would never have acquired had I not fully invested myself in volunteering at the animal shelter. Not only have my previously inadequate social skills been corrected, but my comfort around various animals continuously improves. But, while setting up lifelong matches is one of the most rewarding things ever, I came to the realization that it will never be enough and my soul craves way more than what the animal shelter can provide me. I want to help more. I need to help more. The work I put into my tedious community service and grueling classwork ultimately helps me not because of the grades I receive but because it fuels my fire and desire to keep pushing towards my goal.
When the stress of the workload, advanced classes, club meetings, and leadership commitments gets to be too much, I remember those tears of joy, the smiles, the barks, the growls, and the purrs, and the unexplainable joy they fill me with. I think to myself : I want to be a veterinarian. I am going to be a veterinarian.
Not only will I do it for myself but I will do it for them.