Boutwell said some students take him as a resume maker when applying to veterinary technology college or veterinary school. Since it was organized, she estimates that the number of students taking the course in 4-H, schools and homeschools is between 5,000 and 7,000 or more, and another 1,500 students have chosen to take the course via the AgriLife Learn online platform.

The Texas program also offers adult education, including in-person teacher training, virtual open meeting forums via zoom, and presentations to agriculture teachers across the state.

“Our program is aimed at veterinarians from all sectors of the industry, and we work closely with teachers and county officials to help them teach and implement this program in their area,” a- she declared. “We offer training throughout the year, and we showcase the program, what we have to offer, summer camps, Skill-a-Thons, online contests and much more. We discuss how to set up the program from start to finish.

“The idea is to help teachers volunteer 200 hours in their classrooms and teach them some of the skills that they will put to use in their classroom,” said Boutwell.

Historically, teacher training has been done in person and around 20 to 25 teachers attend, she said. But by 2020, when virtual training had to be offered due to the pandemic, they had over 100 participants.