Interns of Monroe County: Gold Ribbon Vet
Dr. Carrie Wehr, owner of Gold Ribbon Veterinary Clinic, didn’t get to where she is today by herself. The power of mentorship has helped her along her career pathway. One way she pays it forward is by hosting high school interns. Mentorship is just one benefit of interning; an internship with her clinic also teaches students success skills including punctuality and accountability, earning respect, communication, and adaptability. Students have to build trust and respect not just with staff, but also with pet owners. They have to communicate with the pet owners. And they have to adapt to what the day brings.
Dr. Wehr also reiterated the importance of seeing and doing things and not just reading or hearing about them. She shared that veterinary medicine is a very teachable field, if students want to learn. Career pathways in this field include being a veterinary technician, conducting research, and even being a salesperson for products and medicines for animals. While the field can be high stress, because you cannot save all of your patients, it is also high reward. You aren’t just helping the animals; you’re helping their owners and families as well.
Two of her spring interns, Hannah Louden (Swiss Hills Career Center ‘23) and Bella Thomas (River High School ‘23) are following Dr. Wehr into the field. Hannah, who was in the veterinary technician program at Swiss Hills Career Center, was hired full-time at Gold Ribbon Veterinary Clinic after her internship. Not only did she impress her boss while interning, she also found that she liked the field even more than she thought she would.
Bella is going on to college and then to veterinary school. Her time interning with Dr. Wehr allowed them to talk about how to best prepare. They discussed what extra classes to take that likely won’t be required but would both make her better prepared and give her a foot up when applying at the end of her undergraduate studies.
Ashley Weckbacher (Monroe Central High School ‘23) won’t be going into the veterinary field. She shares a love of medicine with her fellow interns, but she is interested in human patients. She chose to intern in veterinary medicine because she knew it would allow her to see medical procedures up-close-and-personal, something that is not always possible when interning in other medicine fields. Interning in multiple fields, even if you already have an idea about what you want to do, is smart. Many fields overlap. And, like Dr. Wehr reflected, “The more places you work, the more things you have to bring to where you’re going.”
The students agree. They believe that their peers should explore as many opportunities as possible and that all students should intern while in high school.
A special thank you to Sandy Doudna, Swiss Hills Switzerland of Ohio Local School Career Pathways Specialist, for allowing us to share high school intern stories from the district.
Interested in learning more about hosting a high school intern or having a student intern with a business? We support internships happening throughout the BB2C Network of 25+ counties in Southeastern Ohio. Email info@bb2careers.org for more information.
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