Kent State Trumbull’s veterinary technology students have earned a perfect passing rate on the Veterinary Technician National Exam for the third straight year, becoming the only school in the state with a 100 percent average three-year passing rate.

The VTNE is administered by the American Association of Veterinary State Boards and is used to evaluate entry-level veterinary technicians. Participants are required to pass the test to become accredited.

“After two years, you have to take this VTNE,” Program Director Melissa Best said. “So it’s very important that over the two years we have these students that we push them and we make sure that we’re teaching everything to get them to pass this test the first time. That’s our goal.”

Trumbull’s vet tech program prepares students for both the exam and the workplace by testing students through traditional lecture-format classes, as well as hands-on learning in labs.

“We have a great partnership with the Animal Welfare League. … We were able to build this beautiful veterinary within the shelter that we call our Kent State Vet Tech Lab,” Best said. “So our students are able to work here for two years in what it’s going to be like in the real world. It basically is mocking a veterinary hospital.”

Students are taught lessons to treat anything from ordinary house pets such as cats and dogs to large farm animals such as horses and cows.

Trumbull’s two-year vet tech program is accepting applications for the Fall 2022 semester.

Trent Blackburn is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].