Progress 08/01/22 to 07/31/25
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project included regional high school juniors and seniors and current students enrolled in the veterinary technology program at Northeast Community College. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?To increase our large animal instructor's knowledge base, they spend time in the summer working at large local animal clinics. This also allows the instructor to understand what skills clinics want their veterinary technicians to have and what skills those veterinary technicians use frequently, so they can match what is being taught to what is being used in clinics. The instructor also spends time during the summer at Rosebud Reservation's Veterinary Clinic castrating, vaccinating, and caring for equines. This summer, two students will be attending this experience with the instructor to learn more equine skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results from the food animal career camp are shared with all presenters each year so they can see the impact of their effort and support. Results of the grant have been shared with upper-level management within the college as well as the veterinary technology program's advisory committee. There has been some sharing of ideas about the grant with other veterinary technology and veterinarian programs at the Association of Veterinary Technician Educators annual conference and American Veterinary Medical Association House of Delegates members via informal discussion. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1) Increase awareness of careers available in food animal medicine. To reach students who are still exploring potential careers, a food animal camp was developed. The goal of the camp is to present the many food animal career opportunities and to provide "hands-on" large animal handling experience. The camp also helped increase student comfort when working with food animals (goal 3). The camp was started in 2022 and hosted again in 2023 and 2024 for high school juniors and seniors, with changes each year to improve based on student survey results and feedback from presenters. Initially, the "Food Animal Career Camp" was hosted over two days, one in the fall and one in the spring. The first day focused on careers and consisted of presentations on various aspects of food animal production and medicine, with some large animal handling skills with live animals. The second day focused on the education students may need, how to reach those goals, and where to go for help, and was again presented in a lecture-type format, with hands-on experiences with large animal models to demonstrate various skills. This type of format presented several issues. First, there were quite a few students who did not participate on the second day; thus, they failed to gain those experiences and knowledge. Second, neither the students nor the presenters liked the method of presentation. While there was a lot of student involvement, both students and presenters said they would enjoy a different method of interaction. The students loved the hands-on experiences both with live animals and with the models. Adjustments were made for the camp in 2023. In 2023, the camp transitioned to only one day and consisted of booths that students would visit and obtain a stamp to get a free t-shirt at the end of the camp. Booths were different throughout the day. The morning booths were food animal producers, who discussed the careers in their respective fields and what their average day looked like. The afternoon brought booths from large animal veterinarians and veterinary technicians to discuss what their careers were and what an average day looked like for them. Late afternoon brought booths from educators to discuss topics like dual-credit, applying for college, and agricultural programs from two different colleges (Northeast Community College and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln). The booth sessions were broken up with presentations on becoming a veterinarian and a veterinary technician, as well as a session dealing with hogs, bucket calves, and sheep. Animal models were used in the booths as a way to get students to participate. Each presenter was instructed to have something hands-on for the students to do and to talk about what they do in a day. Students were encouraged to ask questions and could spend as much or as little time as they wanted, but they had to visit each booth, speak with the presenter, and obtain a stamp to get the t-shirt at the end. Students were also taken to lunch at the dining hall so they could see what the college students did for lunch. Both students and presenters preferred this method, although students wanted more time with the live animals and less downtime. The 2024 camp incorporated these suggestions, further increasing its effectiveness as reflected in student surveys. Student feedback has guided ongoing improvements to the camp. Many discover new career pathways and enjoy the hands-on experiences with both live animals and models. Participation increased from 22 to 36 students over three years, drawing attendees from over 24 high schools in the region and beyond. Students ranged from those with extensive farm backgrounds to those with no experience. Overall, the camp has boosted both awareness of food animal careers and student confidence. Presenters frequently return, valuing the engagement with students. This camp could be reproduced at many different colleges. The key to success would be activities for the students to do, limiting lecture time and allowing for free discussion among students and presenters, and incentivizing visiting every presenter. 2) Increase the amount of time NECC students spend handling large animals. To accomplish this goal, a full-time faculty member was added to the staff. This faculty member is a licensed veterinary technician who has had experience in a large animal intensive care unit and an interest in large animal medicine. This faculty member took over the large animal nursing labs and the special topics in large animal nursing class. To increase the amount of time NECC students spend handling large animals, this faculty member required students to complete their essential skills checkoff outside of class time. In the past, this check-off was done during class time. This allowed for more animal handling during class time and additional handling outside of class. The faculty member also added bucket calves as care patients for a semester, so students learned how to care for the calves daily, something that was new for our program. Students were also required to have a horse as a care patient on certain weeks throughout the fall semester. All of these increased the amount of time students spend handling large animals. This faculty member has been hired full-time by the college after the grant ends. Our program also did a few large animal trips with our students. We started working with a small local dairy to allow our students to assist with some basic cow care, like pregnancy checking and vaccinations. Students volunteered for this opportunity, and those who volunteered were interested in large animal medicine and gained a lot of great experience. Our program also took students out to a working ranch to help with pregnancy checks and vaccinate beef cows. Students learned about electronic identification, cow record keeping systems, aging cows, pregnancy checking, vaccination, and were able to practice their animal handling skills. Students also volunteered for this experience, and both gained additional skills while working on their learned skills. The third event that our program started doing was taking our students to the Nebraska State Fair to help work in the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association's Birthing Pavilion. This is an annual event where the public can view pregnant animals, the parturition process, and care for newborns. The pavilion has cows, sows, sheep, and goats that give birth during the state fair and hatch out chickens and ducks. The students helped care for the animals, cleaning pens, feeding animals (both mothers and neonates), assisted with parturition, processed piglets, and hatched chicks and ducklings. There are many skills the students learn at the pavilion that the program cannot offer due to a lack of facilities and available animals. Students love working at the pavilion, and there are years when we have to make two trips to accommodate all the students who want to go. 3) Increase student comfort when handling large animals. Everything accomplished under the first two goals has helped increase student comfort when handling large animals. The program also started keeping some of the bucket calves and halter breaking them to create very tame, calm steers for the students to initially interact with. This decreases student unease when starting with cattle for the first time.
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Progress 08/01/23 to 07/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this year was current veterinary technology students at Northeast Community College andlocal (northeast Nebraska) high school students. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The faculty member that was hired as a result of the grant has attended the Association of Veterinary Technician Educators annual conference in Houston, Texas in July 2024. The faculty member also participated in volunteer veterinary work with the Wamakanskan Wawokiye Oti Helping Animal Center at Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota with intent of bringing students next year to assist with the medical needs of animals on the reservation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of our activities have been shared via news articles with the local community. Results have been shared within Northeast Community College as well as a few producers and other veterinary technician instructors via in-person communication. Complete results will be shared at the end of the project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the goals of the project, for our next reporting period, the faculty member that was hired because of this grant is moving forward with new large animal electives to work toward the goals of increasing the amount of time student spend handling large animals and increasing student comfort around large animals. That faculty member will continue to increase the amount of time students spend with large animals by having time outside of class that students must complete the essential skills required by the CVTEA. The food animal career camp will again be offered with the same format, but will have some changes to accommodate survey results. The format of the camp will also change to allow for a more streamlined experience and more animal handling time. The program will also advertise the food animal career camp with more urban areas and via local radio stations in an attempt to draw more students in. Student experiences are currently being scheduled for the next reporting period utilizing classes and clubs to allow current students to accomplish all goals of the project. These experiences have been requested by current students based on the activities that were completed this past year. New student experiences are also being explored.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: To reach students that are still exploring potential careers, a food animal career camp was continued. The camp was hosted November 29, 2023. This year booths were set upand students were free to move around the booths at their leisure. The students all had a "passport" that had to be stamped at every booth for the student to get a free t-shirt at the end of the camp. 30 students registered, 17 students attended. The schedule for the day includedbooths where producers talked about the careers at their facility. Participating producers included Michael Food's, Niewohner Farms a hog and beef producer, the Nebraska Pork Producers, an extension educator from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a Nebraska Dairy Ambassador. The producer booths were also accompanied by vet tech models including the cattle injection head and the calf model. Participants learned how to tube feed a calf and how to give injections to cattle. After the producer booths, the students listened to a presentation on the steps to becoming a veterinarian. This presentation included pre-vet requirements, where to find more information out about various veterinary colleges, some possible funding for veterinary college, and information about internships and residencies after veterinary college. The students then movedto live animal handling. They rotated through sheep, hogs, andcalves. Students were able to move the animals, separate them out, halter when applicable, and pet and feed them. Veterinary technician students led the live animal section and discussed reading body language, safe handling, and other interesting facts. The next set of booths, students learned about what different veterinarians and veterinary technicians do every day. Booths were led by a swine consultant veterinarian, a USDA veterinarian and veterinary technician, a LVT that deals with embryo transfer and artificial insemination in ruminants. A general practitioner was supposed to join but had to back out at the last minute. A tour of the veterinary technology building was added to fill the gap in schedule. The students then listened to a presentation on being a veterinary technician and the steps needed to become a licensed veterinary technician. Information was given about college education requirements and the difference between an associate degree and a bachelor's degree. The final set of booths included educational programs like Ag programs and the vet tech program, thePre-veterinary science and animal science Bachelor's programs, early college, andrecruitment. Participants completed a survey before camp started and after camp. Not all of the students completed the survey. Ten students completed the pre-campand 14 completed the post-camp survey. Most of the survey respondents were female (12), with2 males.. Most students were white, 2 identified as Hispanic/Latino. There were 9 juniorswith 5 seniors. Overall, the camp increased the number of food animal career options students were aware of,12 students respondedthe camp increased the number of food animal careers they were aware of. The camp also increased the comfort level of students around food animals, with 10 reporting that they were more comfortable around food animals than they were before the camp. Before the camp, most respondents were very (4) or somewhat interested (4) in a career with food animals, one student was neutral on their interest, and one student was not interested in a career with food animals at all. In the post-camp survey, most student reported an increase in their level of interest in a career with food animals (8), or their interest remained the same (5) and one student reported less interest in a career with food animals. The camp increased the confidence of students knowing the steps to take for their ideal career dealing with food animalsfrom two being extremely confident before the camp to 5 after the camp and 6 being somewhat confident before the camp to 8after the camp. Students also reported an increase in the confidence of knowing where to go for help reaching their career goals related to food animals. Overall, students reported they felt the camp was very helpful (12) and somewhat helpful at educating them on different careers dealing with food animals.Twelve of the 14 respondents reported they were very likely to recommend others attend the camp. Some of the reasons for the recommendation were that the camp was fun, there was lots of new information learned, the student knew people who would benefit from the camp, and it helped the student being able to talk to people one on one.By far, the respondents reported that the live animal handling was their favorite part of the camp with eight students mentioning it as their favorite part of the camp. Other favorite parts were all the hands on learning, the tour of the vet tech building, and the producers explaining their careers. When asked how to improve the camp, nine students did not have a suggestion on how to improve the camp. Two students responded more time with the animals and more animals, and one student who attended last year liked this format better. Presenters mentioned they enjoyed this format better as well because it allowed for more individual interaction and student had more time and opportunity to ask questions in areas they were interested in. Overall, most presenters were excited for this camp and were looking forward to helping in the future. This format did seem to have better flow than the previous year and students and presenters seemed to be more engaged and happier. This new format also allows for more students to participate. Changes in the future could be adjusting the schedule a bit so there was less down time, there were 3-4 periods where students were waiting 5-10 minutes for the next activity to start. More animal species and more time with the animals could also be added. Goal 2: The new faculty implemented several changes this year. First, was to increase the special nursing skills that large animal veterinary technicians use in the Special Topics in Large Animal Nursing Class. Skills included nasogastric tubing, ultrasound techniques of reproduction tractsand abdominal and thoracic ultrasounds. The class was also included neonatal calf nursing care techniques. The second change implemented by the new faculty member was to require students to have additional hands-on experience practicing essential skills outside of class time and to check off essential skills outside of class time. Previously, essential skills were only practiced and signed off within class time. The third change implemented by the new faculty was to bring sixbucket calves to the college to allow for more neonatal nursing skills. The college purchased 6 bull calves from a local dairy. Students participated in castration of the calves, bottle feeding and daily care, and skills like tube feeding and intravenous catheter placement. This was a new change as students previously only had 1-2 days practicing with neonatal calves compared to several months this year. The program also worked with a small, local dairy to provide medical care and diagnostics. Students participated in pregnancy checking, mastitis treatment, and vaccination. The program continued to take students to the Nebraska State Fair in 2023 to work in the Birthing Pavilion. The experience had to be limited to 10 students and will be expanded in 2024 to two days to allow for even more students to have the experience. These experiences were outside of class time. Goal 3: To increase student comfort when handling large animals, hands on activities were added to the food animal career camp and students were given the opportunity to attend multiple large animal activities previously discussed. Our new faculty member is currently increasing student comfort by hosting small study sessions with students to work individually on their large animal handling and nursing skills.
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Progress 08/01/22 to 07/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience can be divided into two groups, prospective students and current students. For prospective students our Food Animal Career Camp for high school juniors and seniors had twenty two students in attendance. For current students our extra hands on activities reached seven students. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The veterinary technician program was able to hire another full-time large animal oriented licensed veterinary technician as a faculty member to assist in educating the students. This faculty member spent several days traveling to various veterinary clinics in the service area to gain experiences on protocols the clinics use when dealing with large/food animals. This opportunity also allowed the faculty member to reach out to local veterinary clinics and educate them on the veterinary technician program at Northeast Community College and how the program is attempting to increase food animal veterinary technicians. Several clinics showed interest in hosting students for either internships or shadowing opportunities.? How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of our activities have been shared via news articles with the local community. Results have been shared within Northeast Community College as well as a few producers via in-person communication. Complete results will be shared at the end of the project.? What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? To accomplish the goals of the project, for our next reporting period, the new faculty member that was hired because of this grant is moving forward with new large animal electives to work toward the goals of increasing the amount of time student spend handling large animals and increasing student comfort around large animals. That faculty member is also increasing the amount of time students spend with large animals by having time outside of class that students must complete the essential skills required by the CVTEA. The food animal career camp will again be offered but will have some changes to accommodate more high school students and hopefully fit better into the students' schedules. The camp will be at a different location to allow more attendees. The format of the camp will also change to have booths set up where attendees must visit all booths but can spend more time at certain areas if desired. The camp will still have some presentations, like the requirements for getting a doctorate in veterinary medicine as well as becoming a licensed veterinary technician. The program will also advertise the food animal career camp with more urban areas in an attempt to draw more students in. Student experiences are currently being scheduled for the next reporting period utilizing classes and clubs to allow current students to accomplish all goals of the project. These experiences have been requested by current students based on the activities that were completed this past year.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Increase awareness of careers in food animal medicine. To reach students that are still exploring potential careers, a food animal camp was developed. The goal of the camp is to present the many food animal career opportunities and to provide "hands on" large animal handling experience. Although the main goal of the camp is to increase awareness of careers in food animal medicine, the camp may help increase student comfort when working with food animals (goal 3). The food animal career camp was presented over two days. Day 1 was presented on November 30, 2022, with twenty-two high school juniors and seniors attending. Day 1 consisted of presentations from large animal veterinarians and veterinary technicians sharing their career experience and what their typical day looks like. Attendees also heard from various food animal producers/companies, including feedlot, swine production, dairy, and poultry industries. The producers talked about their typical day and some of the qualities they look for in employees. The attendees also got hands on experience sorting hogs, handling sheep, and operating a hydraulic chute on feedlot cattle. To evaluate the camp, each day a pre-camp and post-camp survey was completed by attendees. Questions were asked in a multiple-choice format to gauge how many career options students were aware of, how comfortable they were with large animals, and how interested they were in a career with food animals, as well as gathering some information on students' grade in school, gender, and ethnicity. Overall, results from participant surveys showed the first day of the camp increased attendees' awareness of careers dealing with food animals. The camp also had one attendee that felt more comfortable around food animals from the hands-on portion of the camp, although most attendees came in feeling very comfortable dealing with food animals. The camp also increased 3 attendees' interest in careers with food animals. Most of the attendees already had a high interest in a career dealing with food animals. Day two of the food animal career camp was presented on March 21, 2023. The goal of the second day of the camp was to assist attendees in selecting college majors and courses that would lead to a career dealing with food animals. Although only 7 high school students returned for the second day, many reached out and indicated that they had a schedule conflict and were unable to attend. The attending students heard from a veterinarian and a veterinary technologist about the course work needed for each degree. Attendees also heard from representatives from the University of Nebraska Animal Science and Veterinary Science departments, the Northeast Community College Director of Early College, and Northeast Community College Recruitment director. Attendees were presented with many career opportunities and how to take advantage of dual credit enrollment. Attendees were given ample time to have their questions answered. Attendees interacted with Student Ambassadors to ask questions about college life. In addition to the presentations, attendees got hands on experience with a life-size cow dystocia model, cow and horse injection models, and calf orogastric tube models. The pre-camp and post camp surveys were completed using multiple-choice questions along with two questions where students could write in their favorite part of the camp and any improvements they could think of. Surveys indicated that the attendees were very engaged in the sessions presented on day two. Attendees' interest in food animal careers increased at the camp, five of the six students that responded to the survey indicated that their interest in a career with food animals has increased due to the camp. Attendees indicated that they gained quality hands-on experience with food animals. Attendees also indicated that they were more sure of the steps they needed to take in their education to obtain their goal of a career dealing with food animals with three responding that they were extremely confident and three being somewhat confident in the steps they need to take in their education to achieve their goal with working with food animals. Based on the surveys returned, attendees enjoyed the camp but wanted more activities and more time with various aspects of the camp. The next time the food animal career camp is offered, changes will be made to increase urban student attendance as well as compressing the two-day camp into one day to increase student participation. The format of the camp will be changed to allow students flexibility to visit more with presenters they are interested in. Increase amount of time NECC students spend handling large animals. To increase the amount of time NECC students spend handling large animals two projects were utilized. The first was that an additional, large animal focused licensed veterinary technician was hired as full-time faculty to teach large animal classes as well as provide extra time for students to work on their large animal handling skills. The second project was that the program offered several opportunities for current NECC students to travel to other clinics/businesses to gain large animal experience. These opportunities involved taking students to the Birthing Pavilion at the Nebraska State Fair, visiting Genetix, SMILE, Inc, a hog finishing facility, and a cow/calf ranch. Four students attended the Nebraska State Fair to assist in the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association Birthing Pavilion. Some comments from the students included: "It was a great opportunity to learn more about large animals and to talk to the Community about them as well." Mikaela Flores. "I really enjoyed watching the sow go into labor and getting to experience that for the first time in person. It was a huge learning experience for me because I didn't grow up around large animals." Vanessa Lukes. "Growing up in the city I never had the luxury to be around large animals. One of my favorite things about the birthing pavilion was learning how to milk a cow. It was such an amazing experience and it helped me confirm that the vet tech program was definitely my calling," Gicelle Garcia-Barraza. Three students toured Nebraska Veterinary Services Genetix in West Point, NE where they were able to learn about embryo transfer in cattle and got to practice palpating the reproductive tract of a cow. Gicelle Garcia-Barraza (Hastings) said, "Visiting NVS was an excellent opportunity for me as a vet tech student because I enjoyed learning about the process of artificial insemination and embryo transfer. So much so, that I plan to become certified in artificial insemination to increase my knowledge as a veterinary technician." Sophie Alfson (West Point), "t was very fascinating getting to learn more about AI and embryo transfer with Dr. Hughes. I enjoy getting to learn about different specialties in large animal medicine." Other experiences included visiting SMILE, Inc. A therapeutic horse-riding facility for disabled people, touring a finishing hog unit, pregnancy checking cattle at a local ranch, and 2 days' worth of shadowing veterinarians. A total of 14 students were able to partake in these activities. At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, students already were requesting to attend these activities again. Increase student comfort when handling large animals. To increase student comfort when handling large animals, hands on activities were added to the food animal career camp and students were given the opportunity to attend multiple large animal activities previously discussed. Our new faculty member is currently working on increasing student comfort by hosting small study sessions with students to work individually on their large animal handling skills.
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