The seniors of Tracy High School’s Agricultural Science Academy program (Ag/Sci) get the privilege to spend their final year at Tracy High School dedicating themselves to a self-made project for the benefit of the school’s community. Jasmin Alvarez, a member of the Ag/Sci program at Tracy High, an aspiring veterinarian, took the opportunity to help at a local dog shelter to further the interest in becoming a vet.
Alvarez was able to shadow and be taught by successful dog trainers and groomers to gain a better understanding of a dog’s behavior and how body language is a key component in reading an animal’s behavior. From this experience Alvarez also learned that the body language of human beings around animals severely impacts their reactions.
Throughout the process of being able to work closely with people who understand dogs on a professional level, Alvarez gained a newfound knowledge of a dog’s mind and signs of uncomfortable or nervous behavior.
“Throughout this project I learned to read the language of dogs and how we can interpret certain things wrong about them,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez also took her time to get physically involved with the Tracy Animal Shelter and donated handmade collars to the sheltered dogs. With the assistance of a few close friends, Alvarez made an assortment of collars decorated with ribbon and bows.
Marcus Melendez, one of Alvarez’s friends who was involved in creating the collars, talked about the process and how he thinks this project benefited the community.
“When I was making them, I pretty much just helped cut the ribbons and put them together, but I think this helped out the community because the dogs are a big part of animal shelters,” Melendez commented. “This deed helped out a big part of the community.”
This act provided the animals with small accessories that the shelter can’t give to them due to their usual shortages. Seeing the dogs in a shelter have such a simple thing as a collar can brighten up what usually is a gloomy and sad environment.
Natalia Infante, one of Alvarez’s close friends outside of the project, added her thoughts on how she thought the project impacted her friend’s life.
“It was nice to see her get involved in something that she knows she wants to go forward with in her future and also being able to see her execute a plan and idea that took time to think about,” Infante added. “I think there is a lot she can take from this experience for her future.”
Even though Alvarez’s senior project was a fun learning experience, it was very demanding of her physically. Her dedication to this project even cost her an intense injury that held her back for a while, by breaking her arm.
This experience was a defining moment for Alvarez’s time at Tracy High that will forever be remembered by her impact and mark left.
