Anecia Hawkins Is Not Your Typical Vet Student. That's Exactly the Point.

Most veterinary students don't list "actress" as a backup career. Anecia Hawkins has never been most veterinary students. The fourth-year at Lincoln Memorial University College of Veterinary Medicine holds a dual degree in Biology and Theatre, with a minor in Dance. It sounds like an unlikely combination until you hear how she talks about it.

"Veterinary medicine is all about improvisation," she says. "Acting has challenged me to stay on my toes and be ready for anything."

She's not being cute. She means it literally. The skills she built on stage — reading a room, commanding presence, thinking fast, connecting with people she's never met — show up every day in the clinic. Client communication, networking, navigating a hard conversation with a worried pet owner. Theatre trained her for all of it before she ever set foot in a veterinary hospital.

She Didn't Just Prepare. She Overbuilt.

From Frederick, Maryland, Hawkins came into veterinary school with receipts. Dual undergraduate degrees. A master's in Veterinary Biomedical Science from LMU. And a DVM candidacy set for 2027 that she is clearly not approaching casually.

Her resume reads like someone who treats every room she enters as a place to leave better than she found it. Vice President of the Veterinary Business Management Association. Fundraising Chair for the LMU-CVM SAVMA Symposium. CVM Student Ambassador. Tutor for Clinical Skills, Anatomy, and Diagnostic Imaging. Radiographic Interpretation Liaison. O'Brien Veterinary Group Student Ambassador.

That is not a list of credentials. That is a person who showed up, again and again, and said yes.

The Work Beneath the Work

After long days of rotations and studying, Hawkins comes home to her husband, her Vizsla Dante, cooking dinner, favorite shows, and video games. The ordinary rhythms that make the extraordinary sustainable.

She needs them. Because on top of everything else, Hawkins carries something that does not clock out.

"The biggest problem facing the veterinary field today? Diversity. This field lacks diversity severely. We need change."

She did not stop at saying it. She started doing something about it. Hawkins works directly with pre-vet students, reviewing personal statements, offering guidance, and watching mentees earn admission to veterinary programs she helped make feel possible. Her goal, in her own words, has always been to find ways to bring access to young children and college students. She wants to show young Black students that this door is open and that they belong on the other side of it.

That is not a side project. That is a vocation running parallel to her DVM.

What She Would Tell Herself

If she could go back, Hawkins knows what she would say.

"Continue to always persevere. Many people will doubt you, but don't you ever doubt yourself. Don't ever dim your light for nobody."

It is the kind of advice that only lands when the person saying it has actually lived it. Hawkins has.

She also wants everyone, veterinary professionals included, to take a dance class. Any style. "Dancing is just a fun way to relieve stress and learn a new skill." Hard to argue with that.

Where She Is Going

Ask Hawkins where she sees herself in five years and she does not reach for specialty credentials or practice ownership goals.

"A better version of myself that I love, physically and emotionally."

That is the answer of someone who understands that the most important thing she will ever build is herself. Everything else follows.

When Anecia Hawkins graduates in 2027, she will not simply add another DVM to the profession. She will bring artistry to diagnostics, advocacy to practice, and living proof that the veterinary field is more capable, more creative, and more powerful when it looks like the full range of people who choose it.

The stage prepared her well. Vet med is lucky she showed up.