By: Steven Appelbaum
ABC President & CEO
Howdy everybody, and welcome to a different version of “What’s Waggin.”
It’s onerous to consider that 2024 is half over, however right here we’re. Enrollments yr thus far are up over final yr. A part of the rationale for elevated enrollments is our decreased tuition value for a few of our hottest applications. We perceive how inflationary pressures make it tougher for animal lovers to pursue their goals of a profession within the pet trade and are doing every thing in our energy to ease a few of these monetary challenges by preserving our costs low.
Our Alumni group continues to develop, and we’re approaching 38,000 graduates. This at all times excites me as a result of it speaks to the long-standing attraction of our applications. Has everybody who graduated from our program gone on to work within the pet trade? No, after all not, though when wanting on the profession trajectories of ABC graduates, the very first thing we discover is {that a} stunning variety of them by no means deliberate on working within the pet trade however as an alternative use the data and expertise they discovered by means of ABC to volunteer at rescues and shelters all throughout the continent. At this level, it’s all the world over, as I do know of a number of who work(ed) at shelters/rescues in Japan, China, South Korea, Germany, France, and the UK. Apart from rescue volunteering, some graduates resolve they might quite keep of their present non-pet associated jobs however use what they discovered at ABC to strengthen their relationship with their pets and assist mates. Lastly, an incredible many graduates work part-time within the pet trade. The reality is that the profession paths of our graduates are different and various, as they’re. We have now college students from all walks of life, from these simply out of highschool and making an attempt to determine what they wish to do as adults to retired people trying to maintain busy, give again, and set up secondary sources of earnings to complement their golden years.
We’ve additionally labored with veterans, together with those that participated in each battle from World Conflict II onward. For these of you who wish to do the mathematics on that final assertion, bear in mind the varsity began in 1998, and once I consider World Conflict II vets, I can recall one gentleman who took our program in 2000 at 74. Like I stated earlier, all walks of life.
Whereas reflecting on our previous is essential, let’s additionally stay up for the long run. Thrilling modifications are on the horizon at ABC.
First, we’ll launch a couple of new short-term applications within the subsequent 6-12 months. We’ll share extra about these once we get nearer, however we consider they may have widespread attraction.
Second, we’ll revamp our Studying Administration System (LMS) within the not-too-distant future. Whereas this received’t affect graduates as a lot as college students, Alumni who use the alumni middle to evaluate up to date variations of our supplies will discover operations streamlined and far simpler.
Third, we can even supply an internet enrollment course of, making it a lot simpler for college students to enroll in considered one of our applications.
Fourth, we’re severely exploring the affect AI may have on our applications. A number of the supplies I’ve seen generated with AI are wonderful. AI can enable us so as to add extra visible aids, extra narration, and fewer textual content studying, and it’ll typically allow the varsity to modernize how we disseminate info to our college students. AI may additionally help us in doing one thing I’ve needed to do for a very long time: translating our applications into different languages in a fraction of the effort and time.
Anyway, that’s it for now. I’ll maintain everybody posted as issues progress. Till then, maintain cool, and do not forget that serving to animals makes the world a greater place.