AHT Program Celebrates 50 Years, Announces Name Change
Wednesday, August 14th, 2024
Northwestern Polytechnic is proud to celebrate 50 years of its Animal Health Technology (AHT) program and is looking forward to another successful half-century under a new name - Veterinary Technology (VT). This change was made to ensure alignment with similar animal health focused programs across Canada.
Initially launched in the fall of 1974 by what was then known as the Fairview School of Agriculture and Home Economics, NWP’s in-demand program has trained more than 1000 highly sought-after veterinary technologists.
“The program is near and dear to so many of our staff, alumni and community members,” says Kristy Honing, the current VT program chair. “There’s definitely a sense of pride we feel in keeping this program relevant and responsive to our communities, 50 years after it started.”
Kristy points to the hands-on learning students receive as the key to the program’s success. The farm on Northwestern Polytechnic’s Fairview campus provides students with immediate access to large and small animals.
“We’re known, and our graduates are known, for having a lot of hands-on learning opportunities because of the on-site small animal labs,” Honing says. “It’s part of what makes us special.”
In addition to providing a distinctive learning environment with more than 100 large and small animals, Northwestern Polytechnic has also secured options for graduates after completion of the two-year diploma.
The Polytechnic has formalized partnerships with the University of Lethbridge (UL) and more recently St. Matthew’s University School of Veterinary Medicine (SMUSVM) to allow Veterinary Technology program graduates the option to ladder into a recognized degree program.
NWP Veterinary Technology graduates with a grade point average of 2.5 or higher can seamlessly transfer into a Post-Diploma Bachelor of Arts or Post-Diploma Bachelor of Science (Agricultural Studies) at UL or Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) at SMUSVM in the Cayman Islands. Be it on Canadian soil or abroad, these collaborative agreements give learners the option to build on their studies and gain additional qualifications.
“NWP is committed to growing and evolving our programming in order to deliver timely results for our students and surrounding communities,” adds Provost and Vice-President Academic, Dr. Terry Kowalchuk. “We are very excited to be celebrating this impressive milestone alongside all of our supporters.”
Applications for NWP’s 2025-26 programs open September 1, 2024. To learn more about the Veterinary Technology diploma visit NWP.me/AnimalSciences.
