Future Leaders Winner gets glimpse into her future
CBS Colorado is committed to recognizing high school students who excel in the STEM fields. Along with its partners, PDC Energy and Ping Identity, CBS Colorado picks six students to recognize as Future Leaders. The award comes with $1,000 and a profile on CBS News Colorado.
The current winner is Lexi Meier, a graduate of Lutheran High School and a life-long animal lover. She's preparing to go to the Veterinarian School at Colorado State University this fall. Recently, she got a behind-the-scenes tour in the field she hopes to one day work.
"I just love animals, ever since I was little I just loved animals," Meier explained.
In the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Animal Hospital on the Denver Zoo campus, the public can watch while veterinarians work on the animals. Recently, Tundra, the grizzly bear, was getting a preventative health exam in public viewing room. Meier was captivated.
One day, Meier is hoping to be a vet for zoo animals, so she was thrilled when Dr. Jimmy Johnson gave her a behind-the-scenes tour of the hospital.
"We use this room daily to examine any of our animals that call Denver Zoo home," Johnson explained.
She got an up close look at the team working on Tundra.
"That's what you want to be," CBS News Colorado Meteorologist Ashton Altieri said to Meier as she watched the exam.
"That's what I want to do, yea," Meier confirmed.
She also got a chance to ask the doctor some professional questions.
"What it like to work with so many different types of animals," Meier asked.
"We do a lot of comparisons, you know, a lion is a big cat, and an African Painted dog is not too far off of a domestic dog, and believe it or not, a rhinoceros is basically a horse just with a different façade on the outside," Johnson said.
Watching the team work on a giant bear was certainly cool, but Lexi was already familiar with the procedures being done. She's assisted in veterinary care as an intern at Parker Center Animal Clinic, providing the same preventative care to cats and dogs.
"I love that it helped the animals. I mean, they come in not feeling great, and they leave feeling even better," Meier said.
"Thinking back to your internship, what was your most interesting case?" Altieri asked.
"One dog came in with porcupine quills on it's face," Meier replied.
The team transports Tundra back to her habitat, and Lexi got to see the state of the art ct scanner and the lab that round out the care at the animal hospital. It was an experience she'll never forget.
"I thought it was really cool because you got to see all behind the scenes of what my future might look like," she told CBS News Colorado.
