As a veterinary student in the UK, and a previous non-certified veterinary technician in IL, I can assure you that this is normal practice a lot of places (it is even required for students to gain clinical experience outside of school from the summer after 2nd year on in the UK) and that, with proper supervision, it raises no risk to the patients and only provides for better veterinarians when they graduate and are allowed to practice without supervision. My family recently moved to Virginia, and it would be nice to know that I will be able to get some of my clinical extramural studies done near them in the coming summer and winter breaks.