Winter Class of 2015 Graduation Speech

Graduation Speech for the Winter Class of 2015 at Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Technology

I like to post graduation speeches for any folks who are interested.  I can include two speeches:  Elizabeth's and mine.  We tried to coordinate our speeches on a theme, "Being a Newbie".

Graduating Class from Bel-Rea, Winter 2015

Graduation Program

Elizabeth's Speech

 Good Afternoon, graduates, family, friends and faculty.

I would like to share a quote with you from author Joshua J Marine, “Challenges are

what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful”.

In 2001, I graduated from tech school and was faced with the immense challenge of

a new and exciting career as a veterinary technician.  Over the next 10 years, I

worked in shelter medicine, general practice, and emergency and critical care.  I

began my teaching career here at Bel-Rea just last year.  The one thing that I’ve

learned through it all is that it never gets easier being the new person, in a new

environment, learning new things.

As a veterinary technician, there are so many things to learn like mastering the art

of identifying bacteria in urine and parasites in feces.  Or producing the perfect

radiograph the first time.  How about administering medications (in all its forms) to

your patients.  Running your first anesthesia in practice, or learning the intricacies

of setting up and maintaining a ventilator and monitoring and caring for your

critical patient.  Or even the first time you administer a life saving blood transfusion.

Right now it may seem daunting to you but you will overcome all of the challenges

that are ahead of you and you will be successful.  Whenever I felt overwhelmed by

the prospect of failure, my father would remind me that I have to take things one

day at a time.  He was right.   The next thing I knew years had gone by and I was the

one training the newbies.

Remember this moment and never forget where you came from.  Do not doubt for

one second that you will be successful and that every challenge you face will make

your life and the animals you care for more meaningful.

Erik's Speech:

“Being a Newbie”

Welcome to the start of your career.   Even though it was almost 15 years ago that I’ve been where you are standing, I still remember embarking on this wonderful and successful career.  This is an exciting time that will define your success and happiness in this field.

There is a terrific movie that you are probably too young to remember, it is called “Dirty Harry”.  One of the early questions in the movie is why is he called dirty Harry?  He says because he does every dirty job that comes along.  I strongly encourage you to adopt this attitude, never refuse a job or opportunity.  My parents taught me the definition of courage, which is simply, “Doing exactly what you don’t want to do”.  Elizabeth embodied that by embracing one of the highest stress and intensity positions in our hospital,  the ICU.   After my internship at Alameda, I was offered a position in surgery despite stiff competition (at that time there were 40 interns at Alameda that were all applicants).  The reason I got the position was because I took every anesthesia and scrubbing opportunity I could during internship.  Many of my peers were so nervous and afraid of being yelled at, they would make themselves scarce for these procedures, but I always made myself available.  

Keep in mind, the opportunities that you take and others avoid gives you an opportunity to make it your own.  It is no coincidence that I instruct the student favorites:  Chemistry, Mathematics, and Lab Animal.

Whatever you choose to go into, make sure you try to learn as much about it as you can.  Fully engage where you are working and always try to improve your craft.  This isn’t just a secret to quick promotion but also loving your job.  The more time and energy you put into learning and improving your craft, the more enjoyment you will get from  it.  

The final piece of advice I can give is always be reliable and never be idle.  During a working interview in New York City, what impressed my employers the most was during an hour down time, I started deep cleaning the wet sink, which I sincerely hoped was not suppose to be a culturing incubator.  In New York, I had a coworker that would consistently show up an hour later but in her opinion that was OK because she was a good tech. The truth is, if you can’t be relied on, you are not good at anything you do.  Needless to say, she did end up being terminated.

To sum,  even though you have gone through a lot of school, you still have to pay your dues when starting in this profession.  You have one of two options:  You can just pay your dues and hope it gets better, eventually.  Many times if you do this, you may find you resent a lot of aspects of your job and hate your career.  The other option is to not only pay your dues, but invest everything you have into your job.  The more you invest, the more confident you are in your job and the more you love what you’re doing.  Loving your job is contagious, and that is a contagion we want to see spread.

 Congratulations Winter class of 2015, I wish you the best in making this field your own.