Begin With Freedom  MARENA FLEMING

Marena Fleming has always loved animals. But as she was growing up, art was a far bigger part of her life and her schooling. Initially, she planned to major in either the visual or performing arts — both passions of hers. Then, she attended a one-day event at a nearby veterinary school, and that's when something clicked: Art may be what she loved, but becoming a vet might be what she pursued.

Clemson, the top-ranked national public university in South Carolina, had long been Marena's first-choice school. When it came time to select her major., even though science was a change of direction from her art background Clemson still had what she was looking for: She chose to major in animal and veterinary science with a concentration in pre-veterinary science.

Build your community

Marena also joined the Clemson University Honors College. And then, she signed up to live and work in the Women in Animal and Veterinary Sciences (WAVS) Living-Learning Community. Both campus opportunities helped her more seamlessly adjust to life away from home and the academic rigor of her degree program.

Starting the summer after her first year, Marena began working with Cooper, a golden retriever named after Clemson’s R.M. Cooper Library, teaching him different tasks, like turning on a light switch, while socializing him to ensure he has the right disposition for service work. He has now become a valuable companion for a veteran in need.

As a service dog in training, Cooper went everywhere Marena did on campus. He was by her side at two football games in Death Valley in the fall, and he lived with her on campus in the dorm, where she also served as a Resident Assistant. She’s since started training a second dog, Clementine, who also lives in her residence hall.

At the Batesburg-Leesville Animal Hospital, a small-animal vet practice, Marena got hands-on experience working side-by-side with veterinarians, doing everything from taking appointments to trimming animals’ nails to giving them their shots and other preventive medicines. She has even had the opportunity to assist with surgical procedures.

Her on-campus experience has included opportunities to learn by doing, as well. Interested in breast cancer research, she used the freedom Clemson offered her to pursue that interest and joined an undergraduate research Creative Inquiry project called “Bioinformatics for Cancer Genomics,” where she studied the racial disparities of patients diagnosed with breast cancer.

Explore opportunity everywhere

Working with small animals, be it training them or treating them, has been a large part of Marena’s personal pursuit. But for her coursework at Clemson, much of the hands-on learning is tied to its campus farms. Through her classes, she’s worked with horses, pigs, sheep and cows, and discovered how much she enjoys exploring a different part of the animal and veterinary sciences program.

She signed up for a class called livestock exhibition techniques and learned how to train a beef heifer.

Diversify your experiences

Although Marena’s days are now predominately science-focused, she continues to find ways to tap into her lifelong love of the arts at Clemson. In addition to visual art, she also played stand-up bass in her high school orchestra.

While at Clemson, she has added acting to her artistic portfolio. A directing class for performing arts majors advertised an “open call” for students to act in 10-minute plays; Marena auditioned and was cast.