Emma Reagan wears many hats: Warren Wilson College Farm cattle boss; senior biology major, chemistry minor, and pre-vet student; and future graduate student at College of Veterinary School at UT Knoxville! Emma has a bright future ahead of her, but isn’t afraid of looking back at what has been a life-changing few years at Warren Wilson College. She attributes her time working on the Farm for making her competitive in the vet school application process due to the leadership and animal experience that comes with it. “I think it’s very very unique, a lot of people my age have not worked on an operation like this. And so when I had my vet school interview, they were all very impressed and interested.” She says hands-on experience with basic vet procedures such as pregnancy checks, vaccinations, pulling animals during birth, sutures, hoof treatments, treating bloat and performing a c-section on a sheep are just a few of these “unique” experiences.

When work in the classroom gets stressful, the farm offers Emma just the escape she needs. “Working alongside animals can be very chaotic, but it’s almost meditative. It’s a really good way to bring yourself outside of your own problems and be, like, there’s this whole other world existing. And you are responsible for this and they’re relying on you to take care of them. It’s just a very, very good way to get out of your own head and just be in the present. I feel like I could have gotten really bogged down in all of the academics. And then it’s nice to be able to go, oh yeah, this is what I’m doing it for. This is what I care about.”

Her time at WWC is only the beginning of Emma’s amazing journey. “Eventually I would like to start my own practice and work for small rural producers in underserved populations where there are very few large animal vets. I think that a lot of people, especially in really rural areas where they already have land, haven’t had experience raising animals and could very easily raise their own, at least just for their own consumption. My dream would be to be able to support people in situations like that.”