Scholarship Program

If you are interested or know someone who is interested in animal sciences and a career as a veterinary assistant, please see the ad below as to how you can apply for a scholarship at the College of the Desert PaCE Veterinary Assistant program that starts in September. 

Amy’s Purpose was founded in 2020 (during the pandemic) to provide programs in animal safety, including predatory awareness, and grief counseling for pet owners who have suffered traumatizing loss.  I provided most of the investment until our first major fundraiser held last September 2022.  So, there was no budget until we could get funding from fundraisers or grants. 

 Now, one of our main focuses is finding a way to rectify the current crisis in veterinary care in our high and low deserts.  There is a critical shortage of veterinarians, vet techs, and vet assistants.  So much so that animal clinics are turning away patients because they just can't handle the demand.  Many pets have died on the way emergency care as their pet parents have been forced to drive out of the desert to other cities like Loma Linda, Banning, Victorville and even as far as LA.  Helping to mitigate the veterinary crisis has taken on greater importance for Amy’s Purpose.

We felt it was extremely important to entice local graduating high school students and adults wanting to go into a second career to become interested in the field of animal sciences.  We worked for many hours to obtain a partnership with the College of the Desert’s PaCE (Partnership and Community Education) Veterinary Assistant program to set up scholarships for those interested in animal sciences.  

It was agreed that we would fundraise through a benefit concert (that ended up almost 100% underwritten) to obtain enough monies to provide eighteen $3200 scholarships that would be offered to six qualified applicants in each of three sessions for the 2022-23 season. It was agreed that five of these scholarships would be matched by the College of the Desert Foundation.  The fundraiser was extremely successful, and we did raise enough monies for 13 scholarships with five matched from COD Foundation.  Leftover monies allow Amy’s Purpose overhead costs to become independent from my personal support. 

Six scholarship recipients are currently enrolled in the session that started in October 2022. They also must do an externship at a local veterinary clinic. Twelve more individuals will be awarded scholarships in the next two sessions.  All with the goal to graduate and find employment at our local veterinary clinics and hospitals.  The hope is that some of these individuals will go on to become veterinary technicians and even aspire to become veterinarians in our desert cities.

We do want to continue our scholarship program.  This would require 18 X $3200 totaling $57,600 per year.  Our lofty goal is to aid graduates who would like to move forward to become veterinarian technicians, and perhaps even veterinarian school.  But that is a long-term dream for the future.

If you know of an individual who is interested in animal sciences having graduated from high school or looking for a career change please direct them to contact us as soon as possible. For more information, please call 760-776-7420 or go to codpace.asapconnected.com Or call 760-831-3090

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https://www.petcompanionmag.com/will-er-care-be-there-when-you-need-it/ 

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