Her Love for Animals and Medicine Led to Argosy
Christina Schriever wanted to combine her love of animals and medicine. Pursuing these passions she took a position as a Veterinary Assistant at Grayslake Animal Hospital. She says “at the time I was uncertified and self-taught. I had always thought about going back to school but it never seemed to fit into my busy schedule. Then an unexpected event occurred in my life and the time seemed right.” Diagnosed with cancer Chris decided that she needed to “refocus her mind in order to survive” and she wanted to “make her life count”. Soon she was enrolled in Argosy University’s Veterinary Technology Program at the Twin Cities campus.
Chris remembers being scared and feeling very alone her fist day in program. That soon changed as she says “my instructors were truly interested and cared about me.” While in school Chris underwent 18 months of cancer treatments but was still determined to graduate at the top of her class and become the best technician possible. Chris said her instructors “never let her cancer be an excuse and they supported her throughout her treatments.”
Graduating in 2003, Chris first acquired a job as a Certified Veterinary Technician at the Sun Prairie Animal Hospital. Today she is a Hospital Manager and Certified Veterinary Technician for Veterinary Emergency Service in Madison, Wisconsin. In this position she manages three practices; a 24 hour emergency clinic, a night and weekend clinic and a surgical and referral practice. As manager she supervises, schedules and trains a staff of 40 people. She also maintains inventory, researches new products, coordinates marketing efforts for the clinics and more. She says some of her greatest accomplishments were “opening our urgent care facility and then organizing and staffing our surgical referral practice four months later.”
Chris says “Argosy University is truly a big part of who I have become today.”