VIDALIA &045; Brandi Tradewell always loved working with animals.

And thanks to Friday’s Job Shadowing Day, she thinks she wants to be a veterinarian for life.

On Friday, she and dozens of other eighth-graders from Concordia Parish schools shadowed workers throughout the Miss-Lou.

The total number of students participating from Vidalia and Ferriday junior high schools and Monterey School was not available as of Friday.

Tradewell, one of 68 students from Vidalia Junior High who participated in Friday’s program, got the opportunity to watch a veterinarian perform a host of tasks.

Among them: performing surgery and vaccinations, removing horseshoes, and checking to see whether a cow was pregnant. She already wanted to become a veterinarian, but even more so now.

&uot;I didn’t realize it was so hard. He’s on call 24 hours a day,&uot; Tradewell said. &uot;Still, it was fun &045; a good experience.&uot;

And judging from the way she ate a sandwich while talking about the stomach surgery she watched that morning, Natchez High senior Tiffany Fleming also believes she has chosen the right field.

Fleming, who wants to become a surgical nurse, got a chance to see firsthand what that work is like as part of Friday’s Job Shadowing Day, sponsored in Adams County by Natchez-Adams School-to-Careers.

&uot;I thought I would just be following someone around for the day, but I actually got to go into surgery with them,&uot; Fleming said.

She also found that nursing is hard on the feet. &uot;I stood in surgery for two hours,&uot; said Fleming, who still intends to stick with a nursing major.

On Job Shadowing Day, 100 seniors from Natchez High, Cathedral School and Trinity Episcopal Day School were paired with people in various fields &045; from radio and retail to teaching and auto mechanics.

In all, more than 1,000 students have taken part in Natchez-Adams’ Job Shadowing Day in the last four years, said Fred Middleton, chairman of the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber has pledged to take on the program even if the School-to-Careers grant runs out next year.

&uot;It helps them realize the field they want to get into &045; or what they don’t want to do,&uot; said Cynthia Parker-Brumfield, who directs the School-to-Careers program.

&uot;They love having the opportunity to work with these people. They’re so excited by Š being able to have these experiences.&uot;