Vet for a Day takes on Washington, DC

During the 2025 American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Convention in Washington, DC, Vernard Hodges, DVM; Terrence Fergusion, DVM, and fellow volunteers spent a couple of hours with middle school and high school students to educate them on what it is like to become a veterinary professional in their successful Vet for a Day program.

“It is so important that we continue to spend time with an incoming generation and let them know there is so much more to vet [medicine] than simply being a veterinarian. While that's amazing, we need technicians, assistants, receptionists, and managers. And to see all parts of that come together in such a beautiful way—it's really impactful,” said Alyssa Mages, BS, CVT, who was volunteering at the event.

Alyssa Mages, BS, CVT, surrounded by students at the Vet for a Day event at its CPR station

The workshop gives up to 50 students the chance to see veterinary medicine live and up close—but not with real animals—to explore animal-handling techniques from experienced veterinarians and technicians. The program kicked off with a Q&A-style session for the first hour, during which students were also invited to ask questions and participate in a guessing game with the Critter Fixers team. They then took a 15-minute break before going into hands-on demonstrations for suturing, ultrasounds, cardiopulmonary resuscitation on molds, and other simulated equipment.¹

The program was created by Ferguson and Hodges, owners of Critter Fixer Veterinary Hospitals and the stars of the hit National Geographic television show Critter Fixers: Country Vets. The pair travel all over, welcoming students from middle school and high school to meet with people of all backgrounds in veterinary medicine to be mentored and provide a forum to openly ask questions. Parents also are invited to attend the event

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“Vet for a Day is an opportunity for AVMA, and...it has a lot of other sponsors as well, working with Critter Fixers, who have emulated and started the Vet for a Day concept, at least in that title. We're really talking to younger students. We know that high school [and] elementary are really where people are getting engaged in STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] and thinking about veterinary medicine,” Jennifer Quammen, DVM, MPH, the 2025-2026 AVMA president-elect, told dvm360 during the event. “This is an opportunity for us as veterinary professionals, technicians, and doctors to hands-on interact with those students, and for those students and their parents, [who] are often with them, to learn about the process of getting into veterinary school [and] what sort of things they need to study. Hopefully [these are] some seeds we can plant that will grow a tree and bear some fruit of future veterinarians and future veterinary technicians.”

The Vet for a Day event at the 2025 AVMA Convention is sponsored by Hill's Pet Nutrition and NVA General Practice, as well as donations that help make the event possible.¹

Reference

1. "Vet for a Day": DC-area students will learn about veterinary medicine from experts at 'Critter Fixers,' American Veterinary Medical Association, Hill's Pet Nutrition and NVA General Practice. News release. AVMA. July 7, 2025. https://www.avma.org/news/press-releases/vet-day-dc-area-students-will-learn-about-veterinary-medicine-experts-critter