After being an animal lover for most of my life, I have finally decided to turn that passion into a career. After completing my year 12 Higher School Certificate in 1995 I worked in many dead end jobs that left me at the end of the day with no feelings of self worth or value. I have worked in many different positions, from Supervising fast food outlets at Wonderland Sydney to being a Sales Representative for Card Connection to working as a Kitchen Hand and Cook for Stonegrill Penrith.
During 2010 i started and completed a Certificate II course in Animal Studies at Richmond Tafe and began working for a travelling childrens petting farm called 'Misty Ridge Cuddly Animal Zoo'. In February 2011 I moved from 'Misty Ridge' to a company called 'Kidz Zoo' and began my Certificate III course in Animal Technology at Richmond Tafe. My job at 'Kidz Zoo' involves many aspects of maintaining a working animal farm from cleaning to feeding and watering to grooming.
While the work at 'Kidz Zoo' is enjoyable and does give me the animal handling experience necessary to work with animals, it is the Animal Technology side of the animal industry in which I want to be associated with. Animals and science fulfill my desires to both work with animals and to learn.
Part of the structure of the Certificate III course in Animal Technology involves either paid or unpaid work experience in a working research facility. I was fortunate enough to be offered volunteer work at the Biological Research Unit (BRU) at St George Hospital. Working with the team at BRU has opened my eyes to a much larger world than I first anticipated and has only confirmed my desires to work in this field. Working at BRU is still current and ongoing.
