Glimpsing a SHADOW of the FUTURE

Area high schoolers participate in job shadow event

(Seguin) – Never in her wildest dreams did Kimberly Guerrero, a senior at Seguin High School think that a glimpse into her future was only a few hundred feet away from her classroom window.

That glimpse turned more into a full workday experience as she and other students from Seguin, Navarro and Marion High Schools took part in the 4th annual Seguin Job Shadow Day program. Orchestrated by the Seguin Economic Development Corporation, students shadowed and participated in hands on training in a variety of job roles throughout the Seguin community.

For Guerrero, it was serving as a tech at Core Veterinary Pharmacy located just a block away from the high school campus at 1136 E. Kingsbury St.

With a goal of one day being a veterinarian, Guerrero tells the Seguin Daily News that she spent part of her day Wednesday mixing and compounding medication for equine and small animals.

“What we are making, this helps horses, and it helps them with ulcers whenever they get too stressed when they are racing or just doing something and it helps them digest, I guess a little and to let them be less stressed,” said Guerrero.

Guerrero says investing her time in the prescriptions that help to heal and protect animals was just a new level of veterinary medicine that she was exposed to during this experience.

“It seems very interesting -- something to do every day, new medicine. It’s something that I’ve looked into, but this was just like an opportunity that I was given by my teacher because she thought I would really like (it) -- because I’ve been really into it and she thought that this was a quick job opportunity that I could look at,” said Guerrero. Future, pg. 3

Future, continued.

Perhaps what was most eye opening for Guerrero was the opportunity or opportunities that exist right here in her own community.

“I definitely did not know that this was here. This was my first time seeing it. I think it’s very nice to have this here in a small town. There’s not really a lot of things and having a pharmacy for animals, it’s pretty great,” said Guerrero.

“I think this is really important and it’s really fundamental for high school students because it allows us to dip our toes in it and it’s really cool,” said Aguirre.

The continuation of this Job Shadow program in Seguin appears to be likely -- that is if it is left up to folks like Triena Brand, the owner and operator of Core Veterinary Pharmacy.

Brand, who has operated the business for the last three years, says she applauds this pairing up of students and professionals.

“I’m super excited about it. I heard about it through Seguin and my kids go to Navarro, so they have these programs and I’m super excited that they have this in school. I wish I had it when I was in school because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. You have this idea of what you want to do but you don’t really know what it’s about when you go to work actually. For me, giving these kids -- like she wants to be a veterinarian, but she also wants to get experience -- this is just an eye opener for them because they might have not been interested in it. Maybe they thought they were interested in it but it’s not actually what they wanted to do -- but just the fact that the schools offer it so they can have certification when they finish with school, it is even better. I would help with anything that I can because if I had this when I went to school, I would probably have ended up a different way maybe you know just because you have an idea of what you want to do. But work is different than what you think it is and this will give the kids the experience to open up the minds about what the job actually entails,” said Brand.

In fact, such experiences also allow the professionals to share with the students their own pathways. Brand says it’s just a way to widen any career choice for a student.

Guerrero says she plans to attend Palo Alto College in San Antonio and then later Texas A&M University in College Station. Guerrero says thanks to this experience, she has claimed yet another outlook in the veterinary field which includes veterinary medicine.

Sharing the lab space at Core Veterinary Pharmacy was Trinity Aguirre, a senior at Marion High School.

Aguirre says like Guerrero, she too was surprised to learn that Seguin was home to such a specialized field.

“It’s really eye opening and like a really big learning experience. I’m learning lot about all the stuff you normally don’t see on TV and stuff. It’s going good,” said Aguirre.

All in all, Aguirre says she is thankful for the overall Job Shadow Day experience and hopes to see it continue.

‘Most people don’t even know that this part of pharmacy is actually a thing. I didn’t know it. I worked in retail for 14 years and I kind of stumbled onto this as an opportunity. I didn’t’ know it was something that existed so these kids that want to think about going into pharmacy school, pharmacy tech, it’s just not retail. It’s not Walmart’s, the Walgreens, the CVS’s that you see. There are so many different things. There are hospitals. There’s these lab type of situations that they can work with -- veterinary compounding or veterinary medications only -- even this side that we do for the veterinary side, there’s a human side too. So, people don’t know about that, and these kids don’t know it. All you think your pharmacy is retail. It’s not just that. There are so many specialties out there,” said Brand.

Brand says the Job Shadow Day Program also provides awareness to all students about the careers already lurking in their own back yards. She says whether a student chooses to stay in Seguin or purse college and return home, there are always options even those that are rare and sometimes only significant to Seguin. Future, pg. 4

Park, continued.

But by the point it got to the wood -- being so unsafe at the bottom and that shaking -- you basically had to replace all the wood to begin with. So, we made the safety call at that point to go ahead and remove the play structure. We would like to have more time to do that, but at that point, it was just so unsafe,” said Parker.

The announcement that the playground equipment had been removed created a bit of a firestorm on social media, with many posts critical of the city’s decision. The city at the time pointed out that there was still newer and safer playground equipment still in the park, that was put in 2015. Parker says they stand behind the decision to remove the old wooden playground structure, but he says he also understands that the public wants the city to do more to enhance that area, now that the old equipment has been removed. He says that’s why he is recommending that the city use that $300,000 to enhance the remaining playground area in Starcke Park East. Parker says he believes this is a better use for that money, and it immediately begins to address some of the concerns raised by the public last week.

“In last year’s budget, there was a line item approved for park land dedication up on the north side of the Interstate 10, that would be where we think our next regional park would go. So, we were allotting $300,000 in the annual budget to do that. We actually think there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for public-private partnerships with land developers, and actually, if we’re able to work with them...we may actually get that land free with some of the new financial tools that we put into the system related to public improvement districts and so forth. So, we don’t have a real need to use that money this year,” said Parker. “Our recommendation to the city council, if you’re so willing, is to start that out with that $300,000 being allocated to a new parks project to supplement the equipment that is there as of today.”

Despite the social media uproar, there was only one person who addressed the council about the issue. Local resident Gary Vaughan says he takes no issue with the city removing the playground equipment. He says he understands that it wasn’t safe, but he says he does question how this decision was made without any real input from the public, including a lack of input for the city council appointed Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Vaughan says these city committees and boards exist for a reason and the city needs to make sure that they are utilized for decisions like this.

“This is a tremendous lineup of documentation of it needed to be torn down. I’m one thousand percent behind that. I just think it’s interesting that there’s no documentation on any committee meeting. I’m talking at the Parks and Recreation Committee meeting. And what I would also mention as part of this is, this may not be the only committee that’s that way, and I’ll have more dialogue about that at another time. I don’t want to confuse issues. But if we have these committees, they need to have some teeth in them and they need to be given the opportunity to address, or at least review major parts of what we do, and not just be done in the silo somewhere,” said Vaughan.

Future, continued.

“There isn’t any other facility like this in southern Texas. I know there is one in Houston and one in Dallas but there isn’t anything in the southern (area). There are some pharmacies that are human and a little bit of veterinary, but we specialize only in veterinary. We do equine, wildlife, small animals so we do the whole

Parker’s recommendation was for the $300,000 to be used for the enhancement of that playground, but he also asked that Parks Director Jack Jones work with the parks board and playground experts to see what could be done in that area. Parker also recommended that the council consider creating a dedicated fund that will help replace and repair aging playground equipment within the city.

“I think the biggest thing that’s been missing, is there’s not a real true park replacement fund. So we usually wait until these things are almost dilapidated before we really start putting money (into them). Now that we’re starting to, you know, have some significant growth, maybe put around $40,000 or $50,000 a year into an equipment replacement fund,” said Parker.

The council did not vote on the item, but reached a consensus that will allow the parks department to move forward with planning for the new playground equipment. Mayor Donna Dodgen says it’s important that whatever is done -- it needs to be play equipment that’s inclusive of children with special needs. She says it will be a little more expensive, but they need to provide play opportunities for all children.

The council was clearly reacting to the output of citizens last week. Dodgen says the council knew the equipment was going to be removed, they just didn’t recognize that there was going to be a disconnect with the public, which clearly felt like it was left out of the loop.

“We on Council did receive an e-mail prior to all of this, and I didn’t catch it either,” said Mayor Dodgen. “No, I saw it. As did all of us. It didn’t exactly (click). It didn’t click and so I take responsibility for myself, as should each of us. It didn’t click...it was a safety issue with me and that’s immediately why I thought (we need to) take care of it and deal with it. So, it didn’t click.” thing. We are not an open-door pharmacy. That means we don’t have a front shop. We only do prescription medications, so they have to go to their vet first. This is specifically tailored for the animal. It’s not something you can buy off the shelf. We make it from scratch, and we have certain formulations that we make. We can adjust it to what the animals need so it’s a really interesting field,” said Brand.

Even though the old wooden playground was removed, there’s still the more up to date playscape located right next to where the old wooden structure used to be. Meanwhile, staff says it will work on enhancements to that area and bring that back for further discussion in the future.

Participating businesses in this year’s Job Shadow Day program included Caterpillar, City of Seguin, Dietz Flower Shop, Funky Monkey Vintage Venue, GBRA, Guadalupe Regional Medical Center, Lone Star Home Solutions, Niagara Bottling, Republic Plastics, Schulze’s Pit Room, Seguin Fire Department, Seguin Independent School District, Seguin Police Department, Tier One Dental, and United Alloy.