Heading into her senior year of high school, Clara Preisig '25, was uncertain about whether or not she wanted to continue her swimming career in college. Her final high school season however, had to be shortened by COVID and left her wanting more time in the pool competitively. She decided to apply to Wesleyan and after being accepted, she reached out to former swim coach Peter Solomon about walking on to the team. He emailed back and said he wanted a bigger class and was open to her joining. Once she officially joined the team, Presig said that the team was extremely welcoming to her as a walk-on because she wasn't the only one even as everyone who joined earlier from her class already knew one another. Over her four years, Preisig had some ups and downs as she was unable to swim for two years due to a shoulder injury. Preisig said that despite this setback her coaches never lost faith in her as a swimmer and decided to keep her on the team when they could have easily gone with other swimmers who were healthy. The team itself also was supportive when she did finally come back to swim, it wasn't like she was an outsider to the team. 
 
While she was recovering from her shoulder injury that kept her out of the pool, Clara met some people on the women's crew team and became interested in joining their team having rowed in high school. Preisig met with the coach her senior year and he allowed her to join the team for one final season. Crew was an entirely different experience for her but just as fulfilling. She had the opportunity to be a part of a successful season on the team as they came in third place nationally and met all sorts of new people, which she really appreciated.  
 
Preisig credits her swim coach for allowing her to be able to pursue her interests outside of the water and allowing her to grow as a person. She also was happy to be at a place like Wesleyan because most other schools would not allow for athletes to be able to seek out these other interests. In her view, Wesleyan is a school just big enough so that people can be multifaceted and well rounded student athletes and small enough where no matter the risks she was taking both by walking on to the swim team and the crew team, she felt supported by those around her. All in all, Presig is extremely grateful for her time as a Cardinal and everything that Wesleyan had to offer in and outside of the classroom.