Jessica Pak knew she wanted to be a vet from the age of 14.
From then, the 17-year-old has been doing everything she can to make her dream career a reality.
Jessica, who is a Year 13 Rotorua Girls' High School student, is today's Local Hero for the voluntary work she does
at the Rotorua SPCA Centre.
The teenager spends a couple of hours with the dogs at the centre every Tuesday making up their food, feeding them, cleaning them and exercising them. She heads to the centre straight from school and volunteers her time to the dogs between 3.30pm and 5.30pm - and she's been doing it for the last three years.
Jessica said she started volunteering for the SPCA because of her love for animals and to help her career options when she leaves school.
"I want to be a vet," Jessica said.
Jessica will be attending New Zealand's only vet school at Massey University in Palmerston North next year.
She said she has known for a few years what career path she wanted to follow and decided to focus on that immediately - so she started volunteering at the SPCA.
She said working with animals gave her "experience with animals and community service".
She has also started taking dogs for walks on Saturday mornings and spends an hour with them.
Jessica hopes her voluntary work not only helps her fulfil her career goals, but also helps her to gain a scholarship.
