Meet the outreach coordinator who has a passion for people, animals, and education
While her elementary school classmates brought their blue ribbons and American Girl dolls to show-and-tell, Alex Entralgo arrived with a live rooster from her grandmother’s flock.
Ask Entralgo about her childhood, and the conversation quickly turns into a roll call of several memorable pets: Sarah the rabbit, Rosey the tarantula, Iggy the Iguana, Gigi the cockatiel, and even Rufus, the rescued naked mole rat.
But the animals are only half of her story. The other half has always been the people she introduced them to.
Today, her passions have found a new home at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, TVMDL. As outreach coordinator, Entralgo helps build connections both inside and outside the laboratory, welcoming visitors, strengthening partnerships, and creating opportunities for employees to come together as a team.
“I have always loved animals and learning new things,” Entralgo said. “I also really love connecting people and creating engagement.”
Same passion, different plan
While in high school in Plano, Texas, Entralgo regularly volunteered at farmsteads , competed in FFA, and completed veterinary internships. For years, she expected veterinary medicine to become her profession. Instead, life nudged her in a different direction.
As an undergraduate at Tarleton State University, Entralgo realized that veterinary school was not quite the right path, but then discovered agricultural education. Teaching combined with her natural affinity for animals with her devotion to helping people discover new things.
“My favorite part of being a teacher was seeing the ‘aha’ moment from the kids,” Entralgo said. “Those were the moments when they realized their clothing, desks, chairs and food all came from agriculture.”
That perspective shaped her classroom.
As an agricultural science teacher in a predominantly urban area, Entralgo helped grow her program from 75 students to more than 200 in just two years through creative outreach, engaging classroom experiences, and her genuine enthusiasm. High school students met class pets, hatched chicks, groomed dogs, and experienced agriculture in ways they had never before.
“I’ll always love teaching,” she said. “I feel like I still get to teach and serve. It’s just in a different way now, and I couldn’t be happier carrying my passion with me to a place like TVMDL.”
A new chapter at TVMDL
As outreach coordinator, Entralgo will help strengthen connections between TVMDL and veterinarians, producers, students, educators, and the public while also supporting internal engagement across the four laboratory locations.
“I want to be that person who connects people,” Entralgo said. “I want people to know how TVMDL helps animals and even humans at the same time, and I want our employees to feel appreciated and comfortable because they work so hard.”
She also hopes guests leave the laboratory feeling inspired.
“I want them to say, ‘I want to come back, or, ‘I want to tell somebody about TVMDL.’”
Finding another way to serve animal industries
Away from work, Entralgo enjoys hiking, gardening, traveling, playing Xbox video games, and spending time outdoors with Ellie, her Great Pyrenees-terrier mix who loves swimming and “snorkeling.”
Although she’s still discovering her favorite places around College Station with Ellie, Entralgo has enthusiastically propelled into the mission and culture of TVMDL.
She looks forward to expanding outreach both inside and outside the laboratory to help promote animal health and protect agricultural, companion animal, and public health.
The little girl who once introduced classmates to her favorite pets now looks forward to introducing communities to the science, people, and purpose of TVMDL.
“Even though I’m not living my childhood dream of working as a veterinarian, I’ve realized that I can make a difference in other ways,” she said. “I’m not the one treating patients or testing samples, but I have the privilege of supporting the dedicated professionals who do. It’s so rewarding to know that I can still contribute to animal health and make a positive impact.”
To learn more about the outstanding employees who support TVMDL’s mission, or for information about diagnostic testing services, visit tvmdl.tamu.edu or call the College Station laboratory at 888.646.5623 or the Canyon laboratory at 888.646.5624.
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