Abigail Schmoldt of the Slinger FFA Chapter was selected as the winner of the 2022 Veterinary Science Proficiency Award during the State FFA Convention held in Madison in June. The WVMA sponsored the award.
Schmoldt’s veterinary science Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) began at the end of her junior year of high school when she started working as a veterinary technician assistant/kennel assistant at Woodview Veterinary Clinic in West Bend, Wisconsin. She trained under Dr. Daniel Bushard and clinic staff. Her responsibilities early on included cleaning kennels and caring for animals the clinic was boarding on the weekends.
Now a student at Kansas State University (K-State), Schmoldt continues to work at Woodview Veterinary Clinic when she is home on breaks. Her responsibilities have grown to include tasks such as monitoring surgery patients under anesthesia, performing blood draws and doing appointment prep work for vaccines, rabies tags, fecal flotations and heartworm blood tests. She also assists Dr. Bushard with restraining animals during appointments.
Schmoldt is working toward an undergraduate degree in animal science with a pre-vet option, and was accepted into K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine Early Admission Program.
“My career goal is to become a veterinarian,” she says. “At this point, I’m undecided whether my focus will be large animal or small animal. I’d like to get some large animal exposure before I make that decision.”