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USING VOLUNTEERING TO ANSWER THE COLLEGE QUESTION “I always loved animals,” Rheya says, explaining how she originally became interested in grooming dogs. “Animals are wonderful,” she continues, “especially dogs. They provide unconditional love. They don’t care what you look like, how much money you make, what color your skin is, or what gender you are. All that dogs care about is whether or not you are kind to them.” While she was in high school, Rheya volunteered at local animal shelters. “This was much more than just getting experience,” she says. “At the facility where I worked, we took dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens from shelters where they were about to be euthanized . We worked with them, played with them, taught them basic commands, cared for their needs, and if they were sick, we did our best to get themwell so they could be sent to adoption centers to find loving homes. [An adoption center is a facility where dogs, cats, and other animals are matched with qualified and loving owners.] We worked very hard to make the animals adoptable so they could give many years of love and loyalty to new owners.” This volunteer experience Rheya had during high school would shape the course of her professional life. It helped her see what she wanted to do with her life—and it showed her that a college education was not necessary for her to achieve her dreams. FAST FACT While the domestication of dogs has been going on for many thousands of years, most dog breeds are at most a few hundred years old.

14 CAREERS WITH EARNING POTENTIAL: DOG GROOMER