On this episode of Vet Tech Talk we welcome Leigha Wright. Leigha is the Clinical Coordinator at App State’s Veterinary Technology Program. She is an award-winning veterinary technician and teacher, as well as being an avid supporter of her students dedicated to creating a productive environment for their learning. She and her two Airedale terriers live on a Texas.

Transcript

Dave Blanks:

Hello there. Welcome to Vet Tech Talk! I'm Dave Blanks, and I work here at App State in University Communications. On this episode, we're joined by Leigha Wright. Leigha started her veterinary technology career in the Appalachian mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Her career has taken her across multiple states while working in diagnostic laboratories, veterinary schools, and veterinary technology schools. She is a credentialed technician in Texas and was awarded the Licensed Veterinary Technician of the Year Award from the Texas Veterinary Medical Association in 2021. Leigha worked as the Clinical Coordinator for a veterinary technology program in Texas for 3 years prior to joining Appalachian State. Wright earned a Teaching Excellence Award from the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development in 2020.

She works with the Texas Airedale Rescue Team and has two Airedale Terrier mixes of her own, along with two cats that she rescued while in veterinary technology school. Here’s my conversation with Leigha Wright.

Dave Blanks:

Leigha?

Leigha Wright:

Yes.

Dave Blanks:

Do you want to do a podcast with me?

Leigha Wright:

Yes, please.

Dave Blanks:

Let's do this thing. Leigha Wright, you are the clinical coordinator for the Veterinary Technology Program. And where do you live?

Leigha Wright:

I live in Texas right now.

Dave Blanks:

All right.

Leigha Wright:

But I'm from Eastern Kentucky.

Dave Blanks:

Okay.

Leigha Wright:

We can't be mistaken for a Texan.

Dave Blanks:

Well, it's a different accent, right?

Leigha Wright:

It is. It is.

Dave Blanks:

But Texans have an accent as well.

Leigha Wright:

They do.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah.

Leigha Wright:

They get a little confused with mine because they're like, you ain't from around here.

Dave Blanks:

Oh, really?

Leigha Wright:

But you kind of sound like you might be. So what's going on?

Dave Blanks:

All right. So you're the clinical coordinator, so that means you're in charge of what? What is your gig here at Appalachian?

Leigha Wright:

My job as clinical coordinator is I will match all of our vet tech students with the clinical site where there is a credential technician or a DVM. So a veterinarian, that will help them to obtain those hands-on psychomotor skills.

Dave Blanks:

Psychomotor.

Leigha Wright:

Yeah. Fancy, right?

Dave Blanks:

That sounds cool.

Leigha Wright:

So they get those skills. They learn how to do them at a clinical facility during their clinical externship, and that way these students, yes, it is an online program. So they get those, they get the didactic knowledge. They get it in class. It's online. We're still a community. We're still a team. But then I also help to provide them with teams in the field. So they get to make those connections, make those interactions. And my happy place is matching students to these clinical sites.

Dave Blanks:

Nice.

Leigha Wright:

So we match their personalities and everything.

Dave Blanks:

I gotcha. Wow. Okay. Cool. Well, that sounds very comprehensive. Can you tell me how you came into veterinary technology, veterinary medicine? What was your journey that led you to that?

Leigha Wright:

Yes.

Dave Blanks:

Did you always love animals?

Leigha Wright:

Oh, yes.

Dave Blanks:

Yes.

Leigha Wright:

I missed my last day of eighth grade to help my dog give birth.

Dave Blanks:

Aw.

Leigha Wright:

So it's always been in my mind. I grew up not knowing what a veterinary technician was. I grew up in eastern Kentucky. I'm from Pike County, Kentucky, deep in the mountains, and I did not know what a vet tech was. I know what a veterinarian-

Dave Blanks:

Welcome back to the mountain mountains, by the way.

Leigha Wright:

Yeah. Oh.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah.

Leigha Wright:

I'm so happy to be back in these mountains.

Dave Blanks:

I bet. Yeah.

Leigha Wright:

Just wake up and smell that air. I'm like, Hmm. Look at that fog.

Dave Blanks:

Doesn't it smell different?

Leigha Wright:

It is.

Dave Blanks:

Golly.

Leigha Wright:

It does.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah. Okay. All right. So you grew up there.

Leigha Wright:

Yes. And so I went to college thinking, all right, I'm going to be a veterinarian.

Dave Blanks:

Oh, okay.

Leigha Wright:

Because I wanted to play with animals.

Dave Blanks:

Right. Yeah, sure.

Leigha Wright:

But that didn't really fit right. It didn't fit with my soul of exactly what I wanted. I wanted more of the hands on. I don't have to take O Chem. My gosh. Please don't make me do it.

Dave Blanks:

What is that?

Leigha Wright:

Organic chemistry.

Dave Blanks:

Organic chemistry. Oh, I should know what that is. Being a part of higher education.

Leigha Wright:

That was bad. Yeah. That's hard.

Dave Blanks:

Rough stuff.

Leigha Wright:

Yeah. I didn't want that. I wanted to go play with puppies and kitties, but it piqued my interest. The school I went to had a on-campus vet tech program, and I ended up switching majors. So that's how I ended up in vet tech.

Dave Blanks:

How different was it when you switched the major? Was it like, oh my God, what am I doing? Or was it like, this is it? Yes.

Leigha Wright:

It was, this is it because-

Dave Blanks:

What a good feeling.

Leigha Wright:

The difference between, because I've also worked for a vet school. The difference between vet tech and pre-vet in undergrad is in a lot of the vet tech programs, you're going to get to touch animals while you're in undergrad.

Dave Blanks:

Right. That's what you wanted.

Leigha Wright:

Yeah. Vet school, you ain't touching an animal until you get to vet school.

Dave Blanks:

Touching books.

Leigha Wright:

Yeah.

Dave Blanks:

Touching the mouse on your computer.

Leigha Wright:

It was excessive.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah.

Leigha Wright:

So I switched.

Dave Blanks:

It's important. Necessary to have veterinarians.

Leigha Wright:

It is.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah.

Leigha Wright:

It is. And I loved working with my, because I worked with vet students, so I loved that. Loved working with them. But my passion kind of lays with working with these vet tech students.

Dave Blanks:

I got you.

Leigha Wright:

They just get it.

Dave Blanks:

Okay. So where were you most recently before you came into this position?

Leigha Wright:

I was the clinical coordinator for a brick and mortar campus in Texas.

Dave Blanks:

How did you find out about this job? How'd you get here?

Leigha Wright:

So I'm part of the Association of Vet Tech Educators.

Dave Blanks:

Okay.

Leigha Wright:

We are very lucky in our team that Jen Serling is actually the president of it.

Dave Blanks:

Oh.

Leigha Wright:

I know. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity.

Dave Blanks:

Wow.

Leigha Wright:

And she's amazing.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah. She's awesome. We have had her on the podcast as well, yeah. Jen is a hoot.

Leigha Wright:

Good. She's amazing.

Dave Blanks:

She's cool.

Leigha Wright:

I was already part of AVTE, and she posted it on the Facebook group.

Dave Blanks:

Okay.

Leigha Wright:

And I was like, well, I'm intrigued.

Dave Blanks:

Yeah.

Leigha Wright:

So-

Dave Blanks:

So you did it?

Leigha Wright:

The fact that it was for App State within the Appalachian Mountains, I'd been feeling that urge to give back to my community. That's what made me apply. I was like, I love clinical coordinating. It's a happy place. They're allowing me to teach anatomy, which is another happy place.

Dave Blanks:

Cool.

Leigha Wright:

And it's my mountains. So-

Dave Blanks:

Good. Well, we're glad you're connected to the mountains once again, even if you are in Texas.

Leigha Wright:

I know. It's so flat.

Dave Blanks:

I'm not saying Texas is bad.

Leigha Wright:

It ain't bad. It's just different.

Dave Blanks:

A good experience is there. It's different. It's different.

Leigha Wright:

I forgot what the color of green was like. And I come back here and I'm like, oh, yeah, green.

Dave Blanks:

Oh yeah! Yeah.

Leigha Wright:

That's not a cactus. Perfect.

Dave Blanks:

Tell me about experiences, the externships that these students are going to have. And tell me how in the world are you developing this network of locations where you know them well enough to know that a student will match with them? How are you