Whiz Kid: The Future Veterinarian

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Taylor Crisologo, a senior at Las Lomas High School, has a beautiful vision of becoming a veterinarian.

Since she was young, Taylor has loved animals. She grew up surrounded by pets. She knew in her heart that she wanted to work with them and help them recover from illness or injury.

To achieve her dream, Taylor volunteers at Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation eight to nine hours a week, socializing and feeding animals who were given the second chance at life.

ARF scours California’s public animal shelters and rescues animals who were on the block to be euthanized. They get a second chance when they come to ARF, where they will undoubtedly meet Taylor.

“ARF is special in that it’s a no-kill shelter — I really love how ARF’s main goal is to find homes for all the animals and really give them a second chance,” said Taylor. “This is a place where they can be, and find a permanent home with a family.”

Taylor has impressed ARF’s executive director, Elena Bicker.

"Taylor makes a difference each time she volunteers at ARF because her work ethic and talents match her outstanding passion to help homeless pets," said Bicker.

Taylor estimates that she’s spent nearly 350 hours over the past year helping the shelter’s cats and dogs. In the summer of 2011, she spent about 20 hours a week at ARF participating in a pre-vet internship where she helped with appointments, medications and surgeries. Her surgery duties included preparing supplies and checking to make sure that everything was set. Taylor hopes that her time shadowing ARF’s veterinarians pays off when she applies to veterinary school this fall.

“Ever since I was younger, I always dreamed of becoming a vet,” explained Taylor. “ARF has solidified that dream, working in a shelter environment has made me realize that I am meant to be a vet. All the experiences that I’ve had at ARF pointed me in the direction even more.”

Taylor has a good feeling when she's at ARF.

“It really feels like I’m giving back to the community, putting some good out there,” she said.

This fall, Taylor will be applying to two prestigious veterinary colleges — Cornell and UC Davis.

“Cornell is my dream school. They have the best vet program in the nation, and UC Davis has one of the best vet schools,” said Taylor.

In her spare time, Taylor enjoys hanging out with her friends and studying for school. Recently, Taylor took AP Biology so that she will have a solid grounding for pre-veterinarian school. She loves science in general.

At home, she has two cats, John and Isaac, and a dog, Roku.

“I’d say that it makes be feel really good to know that my time is spent helping animals, because I want to become a vet," said Taylor. "So it makes me happy to help so many animals.”

“The satisfaction that I get helping animals, seeing them definitely is the thing that I belong doing,” said Taylor. “Anything with four legs and is furry really does it for me.”