For as long as Gabriella Motta can remember, she has wanted to be a veterinarian.

“Since about the age of five, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do,” she said. “I didn’t just love animals, I wanted to be a doctor.”

Now, at 22 years old – and as a recent graduate of the biology/pre-veterinary program at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. – Motta is close to realizing that dream. She is preparing to head to the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine in the fall.

Growing up in Cranston, Motta spent much of her time volunteering in ways related to animal care. She shadowed veterinarians at VCA Atwood Animal Hospital, was a barn attendant at the Lend a Hand Therapeutic Riding Foundation, and volunteered at the Cranston Animal Shelter.

As a middle school student at La Salle Academy in the Pegasus program, she developed Paws for the Pawfect Cause, a non-profit to benefit the Cranston Animal Shelter through the sale of handmade jewelry and pet accessories. She raised $1,500 for the shelter, along with $1,000 that the Rhode Island Veterinary Medical Association’s Companion Animal Foundation used to distribute three sets of oxygen masks to local fire departments.

“As I got older, I did more veterinary work and was involved in a more clinical setting,” she said. “When I was in college at Holy Cross, I was able to volunteer at Tufts in the emergency room, and I discovered that I loved emergency medicine. I was able to learn so much and see so much.”

In addition to discovering her love of emergency medicine, Motta also developed a love for clinical research during her time at Holy Cross.

“I spent time in the Regenerative Medicine Lab and I was involved in studying feline chronic rhinitis, and it was fun because I got to combine what I was doing in the lab with what I was seeing at Tufts, and I did my thesis on that disease in cats,” she said.

Motta said from her days as a young child volunteering in the animal hospital and animal shelter in Cranston, through her days as a college student and graduate, she’s never lost sight of her dreams and her goal of being a veterinarian.

“It hasn’t been an easy journey, undergraduate classes are definitely not easy, and it was a lot of hard work along the way,” she said. “But always having this goal has helped to keep me motivated.”

Motta also believes that her hands-on experience in the lives of animals has helped as well.

“Having always been involved with volunteering with animals has kept me motivated, too,” she said. “You are always reminded of why you are doing what you’re doing.”