To apply for a volunteer or extern position, please read the following information, and then fill out the application below it.

Definitions:

Volunteer: a high school or undergrad student, or someone who has graduated high school or undergrad but not yet been accepted to veterinary school. Students in a certified vet tech program would also be considered volunteers.

Volunteers spend 1-5 full days with us. Because our appointments are at homes and farms as well as our hospital, it’s really hard for us to do a partial-day experience. Class schedules often don’t allow 5 days straight during the school year, but you are welcome to spend up to 5 Thursdays with us, for example, if that’s what your schedule allows. Summer or Christmas break slots are 1 week, so that we can accomodate as many students as possible.

High school students: We know that you are often only able to be here after 3:00pm. Sometimes you might get to shadow some in-house appointments during that time. You might even get to go out on a farm call, depending on the schedule. Other times you will have the opportunity to learn how to run lab tests, clean the surgery suite, or clean stalls (that means shoveling horse poop, for you non-horse people!). Shadowing our vet techs might not seem as exciting as going with the veterinarian, but our techs will teach you important aspects of vet med that you need to know if you want to do this as a career. You will likely even work as a vet tech during or after college to gain experience for your vet school application. Consider this chance to shadow a vet tech as the most valuable thing you can do, because it’s your foot in the door to learn skills for a future job that will advance your career.

Extern: someone who has been accepted into veterinary school, and is currently enrolled in a program. Externs have top priority for scheduling time at Springhill.

Externs usually spend 2 weeks straight with us. Some veterinary programs require 3-5 weeks for a clinical rotation, and we will accomodate that.

For extended opportunities, such as Auburn CVM’s proctorship, we ask that you come spend a week with us as a working interview before we schedule a major time block like that. This is to ensure that we are a good match for you. A 2-month rotation cuts out a lot of extern opportunities for other students, and we don’t take that lightly.

Important things to know:

1. You are responsible for your own housing, food, and transportation. We may be able to assist with housing, so make sure to ask.

2. You’ll be expected to work! We’re not offering a fly-on-the-wall experience. Plan to work hard and get dirty.

3. We work long days! It starts at 8:00 am, and ends at 6:00 pm or whenever we get done with the emergencies. Don’t worry, you’ll have the weekend to recover!

4. We have four veterinarians, and you will likely get to spend time with all of them.

5. While we have a clinic and see in-house appointments regularly, much of our practice is ambulatory. You will be riding in the vet truck to farms all over north central Florida.

6. We are a general practice. We do not do major surgeries on horses. We do a lot of vaccines, dental care, lameness, and sport horse care. We also offer acupuncture and reproduction. We have emergencies almost every day, ranging from eye ulcers to lacerations to colic. As a mixed-animal practice, we also see dogs and cats as well as sheep and goats, but horses are our primary patient. You will see a wide variety of things over your visit.

7. This is a very popular externship for vet students from all over the country. We typically book 4-6 months out, even more for summer slots. Please book your time slot early!

8. Unless you have already done a full volunteer experience with us and been invited to come back on a special schedule, please don’t expect to get a long-term recurring volunteer position. We have very limited space to accommodate everyone, and we try not to turn people away, and that generally means that you will get your 5 days with us but then you’ll have to get back in line to do it again!

Certified Vet Tech Students

We are happy to provide experience for CVT students. HOWEVER: we cannot guarantee that you will be able to complete your skills checklist. If you are a Penn Foster student, we definitely will not be able to complete your experience requirements. Here are some things you need to know before applying with us.

• We do NOT see cattle
• We do not have a squeeze chute
• We do not have a radiology suite. We use mobile radiology in the field.
• We see goats, but not every day
• Your experience with us will be dictated by the schedule for that day. We cannot manufacture situations that will allow you to check off all your skills. It is possible you will have to spend multiple days at multiple vet clinics to cover the entire list.