Manuel Veloria
After completing the Pre-Veterinary Science Program at Pierce College, students hail and give thanks to Dr. Leland Shapiro for making their aspirations in life come true.
In spring of 2007, students of the Agricultural Center graduated and continued to pursue their career by attending the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
“The program is excellent, Dr. Shapiro pushed everybody,” says Kelly Baxter.
“I always wanted to work with animals, but I didn’t know how… Pierce provided me with the information processing of animals,” Baxter said, commenting on the comprehensive hands-on experience she refined during her two-year course program at the agricultural farm.
Baxter, now at U.C. Davis, is enjoying the “Aggie” way of life.
“I like it here,” she said with a mellow delight. “It’s a small, quiet town, unlike Los Angeles where everything is fast-paced.”
According to Shapiro, director of the Pre-Veterinary Science Program and professor of animal sciences, Pierce has 131 students who have graduated from the program and completed their studies at U.C. Davis.
“Our program has the highest acceptance rate in veterinary school in California, especially for a two-year school program,” Shapiro said with assurance. “Pierce averages about 85 percent in pre-vet transfers.”
A third of the agricultural students have come to the pre-vet program with bachelor’s degrees already.
“Some in English, some in arts and very few of them are focused in knowing what to take to get into that school or some changed their mind,” says Shapiro. “A few people wanted to become a teacher first, and now they want to work with animals, and ours is a very concentrated program where we demand hard work and hands-on experience with a diversified population of animals.”
As Shapiro stated, mice, rats, rabbits, cats, dogs, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, lamas and alpacas are among the animals they do research and work with in the course program. “[We] give them experience in exotic animals,” says Shapiro who the loves new “Piercees” joining the program.
After completing the two-and-a-half year course offered to students in the pre-vet program, students are awarded with a bachelor’s degree in veterinary science.
“If they don’t have a bachelor’s degree already, U.C. Davis will award them one after the second year in vet school, a bachelor’s degree in veterinary science,” said Shapiro. “You need a bachelor’s degree to become a doctor.”
The program is two and a half years long and includes numerous agricultural classes.
Shapiro started as a dairy teacher at Pierce in 1990. Unfortunately they closed the class, but it wasn’t the end of the road for Shapiro.
He then started teaching animal science after the discontinuation of the dairy class, and that set the cornerstone of the Pierce Agricultural Center.
“I’m just honored to represent a great department,” said Amy Pelayo, who is one of the “Piercees” that became an “Aggie.”
“The program is awesome, not only does it base its studies in books, but you get extensive hands-on experience because they expose you to different animals,” Pelayo added.
She also mentioned that the staff and faculty members are supportive and give students extensive training in the veterinary field.
“The farm makes it unique. It’s such a phenomenal program,” said Pelayo, praising the vet program offered at Pierce. “It’s extremely affordable and the faculty and staff are very supportive. They have set my standards high.”
Pelayo is now a freshman at U.C Davis and is taking nine classes.
“It’s very nice here,” says Pelayo. “It’s fantastic, overwhelming, but most of all very rewarding.”
In a letter from Charles Cates, one of the students who was accepted to U.C. Davis, Cates wrote, “I cannot praise the Pierce College Pre-Vet Program enough. It truly gave me guidance, direction, and hope in pursuing a dream of a lifetime.”
Cates is one of the students Shapiro mentioned who had already started a career before entering the pre-vet program.
He used to work as a Reserve personnel officer for the U.S. Air Force in Colorado, but he wanted more.
He was in disbelief, because he wanted to become a veterinarian but was overwhelmed by the thought of committing to five years of school with zero experience in the field.
In his searching, he happened to stumble upon Shapiro’s pre-vet Web site and everything became clear. Cates chose this as his path.
Speaking on what he wants from his students, Shapiro says, “They have to promise to work harder and no whining…no whining, work hard, and they always have to smile,” he said during his class review session. “They always have to smile, because smiling is contagious!”