Unlike most of my colleagues, I chose not to study abroad for my Beyond the Classroom experience. Instead, I stayed here in Missoula and was fortunate enough to get an internship at Eastgate Veterinary Clinic. Eastgate Veterinary Clinic is truly unique in that it is run by a single veterinarian, Dr. Klietz, who not only treats dogs and cats but exotic animals as well. Having exotic animals on a regular basis meant that there was always something interesting going on in this clinic whether Dr. Klietz was diagnosing a torn acl or trimming the beaks of a parrot, I was always kept on my toes. In just the first week of my internship I was given the opportunity to learn how to properly hold a ferret as well as a parrot. While at Eastgate Veterinary Clinic I developed hands on skills such as handling exotic species, improved my knowledge of diagnosing and treating animals, and the importance of customer service.

For my global theme of social inequality and human rights, I focused on promoting and spreading education awareness of animal rights. Luckily I was able to do this on a regular basis through customer service. Customer service at Eastgate involved doing call backs, checking clients in, listening to client’s issues, and getting to know your clients personally. Talking to clients on a regular basis gave me many opportunities to discuss how they felt about their pet’s worth outside of their usefulness towards the owners. For the most part many people stated that they would do anything for their pet to live a life without pain or suffering. However, once money was involved a lot of these individuals’ values changed. Many clients refused the best treatment for their pet and some would even walk out of the clinic without getting any treatment regardless of their pet’s condition. Dr. Klietz informed me after some time that this is a constant battle for veterinarians to deal with but he had a great solution for these situations. Over the next few days after a client had left the clinic, Dr. Klietz would have other staff members and I do call backs and try to get the animal the care it needs. The goal of these callbacks was to find common values with the owners in relation to how important their pet is to them then urge the owner to reconsider any treatment that would help their pet. Doing these types of tasks made me question if a common ground will ever be met between an animal’s life or money.

My beyond the classroom experience has immensely pushed my leadership goals. Working in a clinic with a single doctor, it is imperative that you do your tasks right every time. This stress helped push me to be more confident as an individual as well as a leader. In addition, customer service has given me insight on the broad spectrum of concerns clients and people go through on a daily basis and helped me develop higher standards in regards to building relationships and listening to others. I cannot thank Dr. Klietz and his staff enough for the amazing opportunity they have given me.