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Hailey Bartlett vividly recalls the day her boss came up to her at the Bristol dairy farm where she worked and asked if she wanted to help with a “DA.”

“I didn’t even know what that meant. But I said, ‘sure.’”

A “DA” is a displaced abomasum, which is the fourth stomach compartment in a cow. This cow, who had recently calved, had gotten her stomach twisted, an uncomfortable yet common condition for dairy cows after giving birth.

I had no idea what I was getting into. The three of us—my boss, the vet, and I—had to flip over this 2,000-pound animal. I was on one side and pulled the halter down on her head, then stayed on top of the cow to hold her down while the vet treated her. Afterwards, I asked my boss, Brittany, to explain what happened. Her abomasum was twisted, and the vet had to come and untwist it. She demonstrated with a rag. It was fascinating.

Noticing her interest, Brittany arranged for Hailey to accompany the same vet a few weeks later on farm visits throughout Addison County. Not only did Hailey get a summer job out of the deal, but it also gave her a valuable realization: being a large-animal vet was what she wanted to do with her life.

“I knew that was the path I wanted to take,” Hailey says.

Animals are a constant

Hailey grew up around agriculture and participated in many farm-related activities, from 4H shows to Future Farmers of America to youth programs with the Addison County Farmers Coalition. But her interest in animals served a need that went beyond after school projects.

When Hailey was nine years old, she and her siblings were put into foster care. While she’s lived with some good families, Hailey says that her experience—which included a years-long abusive situation, several moves, and separation from her brothers and sister—has not been positive. Throughout it all, animals were her comfort.

Every family she lived with had animals—chickens, pigs, geese, goats, a cow or two—and Hailey always took care of them. “Going from foster home to foster home, I never had a solid connection with people, but animals were my constant,” she recalls.

At the start of her junior year, around the time she left her most challenging foster home, Hailey decided she needed a positive outlet. “I was going through a rough time, so a friend and I reached out to this big dairy farm that needed people to work the night shift feeding the calves.” Hailey loved it, and it introduced her to the possibilities of making a career and a life working with large animals.

This fall, Hailey starts college at . After college, she may go on to veterinary school, or she might work as a vet tech or an animal nutritionist—as long as she can travel from farm to farm and work with animals. “There’ll be no desk job for me,” says Hailey.

Hall pass mixup opens doors

Applying to college wasn’t part of Hailey’s plan, but when the idea literally landed on her desk through a fortuitous mixup, she started to give it some thought.

“I received this hall pass one day to go meet with the �й������� counselor. I didn’t even know what �й������� was—and college?—I’d never thought about it,” Hailey recalls.

But she went to the counseling office and learned the pass was meant for a classmate who is also a “Hailey B.” The �й������� counselor, who works with students in �й�������’s Talent Search college and career readiness program, suggested they chat anyway—and this Hailey was intrigued.

Unfortunately, she encountered an immediate setback. “I was living in my worst foster home at the time, and before I could enroll to work with �й�������, I needed a parent’s signature. They wouldn’t sign it.”

But almost a year later, after Hailey moved out of that house, she came back to �������. By that time, the original ������� counselor Hailey had met with had retired, and Kate Rowland was working with students at the school.

“Despite the traumatic experiences that she has endured, Hailey has such a positive attitude, kind demeanor, and clear vision for her future,” says Rowland. “She has not let her past define her, and she has continually impressed me with her dedication.”

“Working with an independent student often means that I get to help these students even more than my other first-generation students,” Rowland adds. “Hailey has impressed me with her diligence, responsiveness, and motivation every step of the way.”

Financial aid makes a difference

Hailey says �й�������’s support was a game-changer, particularly when it came to finances. “I wouldn’t have known about scholarship opportunities. I would have just thought, ‘I’ll pay off the loans when I’m older, no big deal.’ Now I know those scholarships are going to be life-changing in terms of reducing my debt.”

And for students who don’t live in a traditional two-parent household—whether their parents are divorced, they’re raised by other relatives, or are independent, like Hailey—completing the FAFSA financial aid application is often tricky. “The application process was tough, and I needed a lot of documents. But �й������� made it much easier, and in the end, it was all worth it,” says Hailey.

As an independent student, Hailey will be paying for her education on her own. Fortunately, she received a generous financial aid package from SUNY Cobleskill, and she’s waiting to hear back from the many scholarships she applied for.

Hailey credits her best friend—with whom she’ll be sharing a room at SUNY in the fall—and her boss, Brittany, for helping her find her path.

My friend grew up on a farm, introduced me to showing cows, leased me my cow for shows, and gave me so much insight on farming. I wouldn’t be here without her. And Brittany has played a huge part. She can look at an animal and know exactly what’s wrong with it. That’s what I want to be able to do.