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Animal care, close up

By JANE MADDEN WELCH
Published January 2, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Douglas R. Clifford] From left, Tarpon High students Olivia Anderson, 16, Christie Smolen, 15, and Ashley Shukitis, 16, wash Micky, a toy poodle, at the Veterinary Science Academy.

TARPON SPRINGS - Debora Edwards must love her job. Otherwise, she wouldn't commute 110 miles from Chiefland to Tarpon Springs for the past 17 years.

Edwards teaches science at Tarpon Springs High School and was instrumental in creating the school's Veterinary Science Academy, the only one in Pinellas County.

Soon the academy will open a new animal surgical suite, the only such teaching facility on the west coast of Florida, Edwards said.

"This will be a wonderful, hands-on learning opportunity," said Tarpon Springs High assistant principal Kathy Pierce.

The suite will have a surgical prep room, where animals will be anesthetized, clipped, scrubbed and have a tube inserted into the trachea.

Then they will be moved into the sterile surgical room, where students can observe procedures through glass. The suite has more than $20,000 worth of new equipment, including a hydraulic operating table, stainless steel lighting, and a state-of-the-art autoclave for sterilizing instruments.

Advanced academy students will work in the suite under the guidance of professionals, and all academy students will watch procedures and learn to use the equipment during simulations.

The suite is set up to accommodate general surgical procedures such as spaying, neutering, tail-docking, declawing or tumor removal. Local veterinarians partnering with the program will decide which procedures will be undertaken.

"I'm very excited; I can't wait," said academy sophomore Ashley Fix.

Fix, 16, has a horse, a dog, a rabbit, a hamster and four birds and wants to be a horse veterinarian. She enrolled in the academy as a freshman.

"I've just learned so much," she said. "And I've gotten the experience of meeting other people that want to be vets."

Fix and other academy students learn directly from local veterinarians who volunteer their time.

Veterinarian Donna McWilliams of Westlake Animal Hospital in Tarpon Springs serves as an academy adviser and has helped the school acquire textbooks and slides, as well as X-ray and hospital equipment.

On her day off, McWilliams occasionally talks with the students, discussing the whole range of veterinary science, including dealing with animals in pain and euthanasia.

"It isn't all puppy vaccines and happy endings." McWilliams said. The academy "is a good way to find out if this is for you."

It took Tarpon Springs High administrators five years to develop the curriculum and achieve academy status.

In 1995, the academy opened with 26 students. It currently has more than 200 students, with a goal of 500 students, Edwards said.

Students are required to have good attendance, maintain a 2.0 grade point average and do 100 hours of community service volunteering in an animal-related field. The academy offers dual enrollment through St. Petersburg College to acquire college credits.

Senior Ernest Cannon II applied to the academy in eighth grade. He said he has no qualms about watching surgical procedures.

"I would recommend the academy because it teaches skills for a lot of jobs," said Cannon, who has worked at a kennel and volunteers for a Palm Harbor veterinarian.

The four-year program begins with an ag-science foundation, then proceeds through five levels of veterinary assisting classes taught by Edwards, James Long and Denise Hallowell, a certified veterinary technician. Seventeen instructors teach academy students the core curriculum developed to support veterinary science.

Academy students study anatomy, animal rights and welfare, breed identification, parasitology, and physiology.

Parasitology, a branch of biology that studies internal and external parasites, was a favorite for Cannon, 18.

"I like science, definitely," he said. "We learn about diseases, their symptoms and characteristics."

The academy also offers regular interaction with animals through its doggie day care, which can handle about 25 dogs. Animals also are brought in Thursdays for students to practice grooming.

"The intention is to have animals here so students can do practical applications," Edwards said. "Everything doesn't happen like textbooks read."

FFA, one of two student organizations connected with the academy, has about 30 members who meet weekly.

"When people think of FFA, they think of the tractor and the plow," Edwards said. "That stereotype is one of the things FFA is trying to change. Now it's into technology, animal husbandry, plant research, zoology."

- - -

Edwards, 56, grew up in Pinellas County, attending Boca Ciega High School, St. Petersburg College and the University of South Florida.

She and her husband, David, have operated a family farm for 33 years in Levy County, where they grow hay and raise cattle.

She began her teaching career at Tarpon Springs High School in 1990, teaching agriculture. She stays at an apartment in Tarpon during the week to teach, driving the 21/2 hours home to the Chiefland farm on weekends.

"With my background in animal and veterinary science, horticulture and agriculture, I thought, 'Why can't we teach secondary students veterinary assisting skills?' " she said.

In addition to the surgical suite, the academy has ambitious plans, including an expansion of the doggie day care; the addition of 30 computers with satellite feeds for viewing lectures and procedures from SPC and USF; and creation of an enclosed compound for obedience training and an agility course.

The opening of the surgical suite will be Jan. 17.

McWilliams will perform the first surgical procedure that day. She will spay a stray cat that has recently been placed in a private home.

McWilliams said there weren't programs like this when she went to high school in the mid 1980s.

"Hopefully we are pointing the next generation in the right direction by giving them this opportunity," she said. "I think this is so cool for these kids."

Fast Facts:

Academy at a high school

What is an academy?

It is a high school program that organizes academic subjects around a specific industry or occupational theme. Typically students study with the same teachers for four years.

It is the same as a magnet program?

It's similar, but magnet programs have different entrance requirements and a very specialized curriculum.

What academy options are there in Pinellas County?

Lots:

- Academy of Architectural Design and Electrical Technology at Dunedin High

- Academy of Engineering at East Lake

High

- Academy of Environmental Technology and Marine Science at Lakewood High

- Academy of Finance at Northeast High

- Academy of Information Technology at Northeast High

- Automotive Academy at Northeast High

- Career Academy for International Culture and Commerce at Clearwater High

- Graphic Art Academy at Dixie Hollins High

- Jacobson Culinary Arts Academy at Tarpon Springs High

- Veterinary Science Academy at Tarpon Springs High

[Last modified January 2, 2007, 06:07:27]