Program Spotlight
Students find courses lure with animal magnetism
Whether your interest in animals focuses on a five-inch Australian marsupial Sugar Glider in a cage in a high school in Westbury, or a horse in an equestrian center on the verdant North Shore of Nassau County, you're likely to find an academic outlet for your love of animals at the Joseph M. Barry Career & Technical Education Center.
Barry Tech offers courses in small animal care, veterinary science, and horse science and management. In addition, a course in animal care skills trains students for positions as support personnel in pet shops, veterinary offices, kennels and grooming salons.
For teacher Donna Garcia, the small animals she teaches students to care for represent a dramatic change from the animals she worked with in her previous position--as a zookeeper at the Bronx Zoo, Garcia handled mammals and reptiles, and developed many friends among the lions, tigers and large snakes that she tended to.
Meanwhile, in Brookville, teacher Fran Horn is preparing to move the Barry Tech horse science and management program over to the North Shore Equestrian Center located at the south end of the C.W. Post campus not far from the program's previous location. "There's more space in the Equestrian Center," Horn says. "The facility is more modern, and there are more food and restroom facilities than we've had in the past."
The one-year course provides students with the skills and knowledge needed to care for horses. At the same time you learn riding, you'll learn how to feed, handle and manage horses. You'll learn how to administer first aid for common injuries and ailments, how to groom and manage stables, and how best to adjust the behavior and nutrition.
With the variety of courses in animal care, students are able to network with each other, and many cite this interaction as one of the major strengths of the program. "We really learn a lot about each other," said Michelle Rosner, a veterinary science student. "And the main thing that brings us all together is that we all have a love for animals..."
Program Spotlights Archive:
|
|
|
