Lydia Smith grew up knowing what she wanted to do for a profession.
“I was one of those kids that when I was 2 years old in kindergarten and I was asked what I wanted to be, I said I want to be a vet,” she says. “Most kids say that.”
But unlike most kids, Lydia was willing to put that claim to the test pretty early. At 15 years old, she found herself in the room with Dr. Meryl Lessinger of the Animal Clinic and Wellness Center in Williamsburg. She was there to watch Lessinger extract an eyeball from a dog’s skull.
“If you can watch this, you can watch anything,” Lessinger said to her.
The advice didn’t come from just anyone. Lessinger graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine – a highly-regarded program in the world of vet medicine. According to the vet’s website, Lessinger was also one of 17 people in the entire nation chosen to be an intern at the world-famous Animal Medical Center of New York City.
So, Smith had butterflies in her stomach as she sat down near the operating table donning a surgical mask. It was a make-it-or-break-it moment.
If she was able to watch the operation without getting queasy, it meant Lessinger might think she had the chops to enter the field. But if it made her faint, her lifelong dream of becoming a vet would be ruined.
“I was freaking out,” Smith said.
And then the doctor started cutting … and suctioning … and sewing. As she continued the surgery, the number of tools and machines working in the room grew. So did Smith’s interest.
“I just watched with so much fascination,” she said. “I thought it was so cool that she had the ability to do that because it was so complicated. It made me want to learn how to do it.”
Smith was hooked. With the first “ick-factor” hurdle behind her, she still wanted to be a vet; maybe even more. So, she took some steps toward that goal — one of them very recently.
On June 30, she and 99 other students from across the state started Virginia Governor’s School. The summer-long program gave the gifted pupils a chance to learn from Virginia Tech professors from the agriculture and life sciences, natural resources and veterinary medicine departments.
“It was like a college experience for high school kids,” she said.
Students picked what they wanted to major in for the summer: animal science, plant science, food science or agricultural engineering and agricultural economics.
Smith picked animal science. Most did. But there was only room for 20 students in the program. Fortunately, Smith was one of the lucky ones.
Throughout the summer, Smith and the other students in the program learned about everything from organic growing methods to “how to flip a sheep” that’s bound for the shears.
But the part of the application that stuck out most in her mind was the essay.Getting into the program was no easy task. There was a long application process that asked about her awards, extracurricular activities and research background. She also needed two letters of recommendation from her teachers, which Smith said it “felt weird” to request.
“That was probably the most nerve-wracking part,” she said.
Smith wanted it to be perfect. So, as she found out later, she spent much more time on it than many of the other students — writing, revising, showing it to her parents, revising again and passing it off to her counselor for another round.
“I wanted to get in so badly,” she said.
But long-form writing, attending Governor’s school, watching surgery and flipping sheep are not the only experiences that have helped Smith learn about veterinary work. She also volunteers at Woodland Veterinary Clinic in Newport News where she learns some of the less glamorous aspects of the job like paperwork, dealing with strays, grooming and X-rays.
“I don’t like that as much,” she said.
At the end of July, she left the program in Blacksburg to gear up for her senior year at Walsingham Academy. She’ll be doing all the things that 17-year-old girls do: reconnecting with friends and saying hello to familiar faces. She’ll also be taking four advanced placement courses.
