Senior Lauren Sanders draws up shots, holds animals and cleans kennels at the Congo Road Animal Clinic in Benton.

“My best friend’s dad is the head veterinarian, and when my friend went off to college I asked if I could take her job at the clinic,” Sanders said.

Sanders has worked at the clinic for a year and a half, and she enjoys working with her co-workers. She is the youngest at the clinic, and it ranges to workers in their 50s.

“I started out just cleaning and basic things, and I worked my way up to basically doing the things a vet technician would,” Sanders said.

Sanders is in work-based learning, so she said she gets out of school after third block and goes to work from 2-5:30 p.m. on weekdays and 7:30 to noon on weekends. Sanders said the schedule is made monthly so if she needs a day off she has to ask a month in advance.

Sanders said since she leaves work at 5:30 everyday, keeping up with schoolwork isn’t difficult.

“I wanted to work at the clinic because it’s not the average teenage job and it’s rewarding,” Sanders said. “I love animals and hope to be a vet one day.”

Sanders said the kennels must be cleaned after every mess an animal makes and when the animal goes home.

“We have to take out the grate, the door and throw away the newspaper,” Sanders said. “Then, we put the grate and door in a tub and bleach it. We clean the inside out with a disinfectant.”

Sanders said cleaning the kennels is gross, but it isn’t the hardest part of the job.

“The hardest part about the job is watching the owner have to put down their animal,” Sanders said. “It’s really sad.”