{"id":897,"date":"2026-05-29T22:06:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=897"},"modified":"2026-05-29T22:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T22:06:30","slug":"valley-students-get-to-experience-life-as-a-veterinarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=897","title":{"rendered":"Valley students get to experience life as a veterinarian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PEORIA, AZ \u2014 For the past four years, Vistancia Animal Hospital in Peoria has held a competition where Valley students submit an essay about why they want to work in the field, and the top writers get a chance to come to the clinic, shadow the pros, and see if they have what it takes.<\/p>

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ABC15 first covered the story in April, and this week, we returned to the clinic to follow up as 30 students from across the area went for the experience of a lifetime!<\/p>

Vistancia Animal Hospital says they got more responses than ever this year.<\/p>

“It’s been excellent,” says Astin Deem, the practice manager who told us about the contest.<\/p>

Throughout the day, students were able to check out a variety of different services that veterinarians, techs, and support staff offer our furry friends.<\/p>\n

“Everything from dentistry, radiology, and ultrasound,” explains Deem. <\/p>

“I’ve been wanting to be a vet since I was four or five,” explains Audrina Fisher-Gelinas, who’s 10 years old.<\/p>

“It makes me want to do it because now I know more about it.”<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the clinic shut down for the morning so that students could work side by side with the pros (on prop animals) to get a taste of what it’s really like to work in a real-life vet clinic.<\/p>

“It’s more than just puppies and kittens,” explains Dr. Jason Long, Vistancia Animal Hospital’s medical director. “It’s a lot of hands-on, and relying on each other, and a lot goes into it, but it’s also very rewarding, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”<\/p>

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For parents like Kent Netz, who brought his 12-year-old daughter Lennon from Gold Canyon, it’s been amazing to see her chase her dreams.<\/p>

“She’s wanted to be a vet for the last two years,” says Netz. “She talks about this all the time!”<\/p>

Each writer received a certificate for participating and writing their essay. An outside group judged the essays, and the top three essay writers also won cash prizes – including 17-year-old Makayla Castelo, who won first place!<\/p>

“I always knew I wanted to be a vet because I always felt more connected with animals,” explains Castelo.<\/p>

She told ABC15 she grew up overcoming a learning disability, says she is proud of herself, and won’t let any obstacle stand in her way when it comes to achieving her dream of becoming a veterinarian.<\/p>

“I am proud of how much I have grown!”<\/p>

For more information about the contest (which Vistancia Animal Hospital is hoping to offer again next year), click here.<\/p>

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A Peoria vet clinic gave 30 Valley students a hands-on look at animal healthcare careers through its fourth annual essay competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-peoria-news"],"yoast_head":"\nValley students get to experience life as a veterinarian - Arizona Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=897\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Valley students get to experience life as a veterinarian - Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Peoria vet clinic gave 30 Valley students a hands-on look at animal healthcare careers through its fourth annual essay competition.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=897\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T22:06:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/31ea3f29100e255039a9c28f5d9a802f.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=897#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=897\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"headline\":\"Valley students get to experience life as a veterinarian\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T22:06:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=897\"},\"wordCount\":488,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=897#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/3cb66a26d3b6ab4572f0884ce3653798.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Peoria News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=897#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=897\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=897\",\"name\":\"Valley students get to experience life as a veterinarian - 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