Telstar Senior Hayley Smith plans to attend nursing school next year to become a Psychiatric Nurse. photo by Kathleen Kersey

BETHEL — Telstar senior Hayley Smith is the “little sister” of three Telstar Alums she calls inspirational – Morgan Zetts, Makenzie Eliot and Macie Hallett.

“They are all very confident girls. They are driven. They have put so much work into everything they have gotten. They all prioritize school, too.” said Smith, of Andover. “When they met me, they said, you are our little sister now.'”

Now Smith sees herself as the big sister to four Telstar undergraduates: Mya Buck, Addie Kimball, Emma McPherson, and Quinn Coolidge. Her advice to them them is, “you can do anything, you are capable and you shouldn’t stress about everything – it’s all going to work out.”

Smith is a Telstar Student Council member and serves as the National Honor Society secretary. Her friends call her “Hay” and, like her, they are athletes. Her sports are softball, basketball, and soccer, with soccer the sport she loves best because of the competitiveness.  “You fight for everything during soccer matches,” said Smith, who hopes to play D3 soccer in college.

Post college

She’ll attend nursing school with her longtime goal to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Her interest in the field has grown over the years partly influenced by her mother, Genni Smith, who works as a social worker at Crescent Park School. During Hayley’s junior year, she shadowed the Maine Behavioral Health Coordinator for the Maine State Police, an experience that helped her realize she wanted a more hands-on role. After taking Dr. Melissa Poston’s Advanced Placement psychology class she started to narrow her choices, eventually landing on a future career as a Psych Nurse.

Her mother, she said, is her inspiration, “Working in the field she’s worked in [social work], it’s very inspiring. I would not have the patience for that and she’s out there doing it everyday.”

A longtime goal for Smith is to live in Hawaii someday. It’s a place she visited with her parents and brother, Dillan, when her parents were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary.  Her parents met in Hawaii through her mother’s brother Jess, who was living there with his best friend, (Hayley’s father Keith).  Hayley loved their family trip to Hawaii and immediately felt like she’d want to live there. Her mother said “absolutely not, too far,” when she said she applied to college in Hawaii.

Her parents eventually moved to Maine where Hayley’s father’s family – including grandparents, an aunt and an uncle – all live on the mile stretch and where Hayley has lived her whole life.

Smith said her transition from Andover Elementary School to the even smaller Eddy School then to the much larger high school was a challenge. Rylee Cooper, her best friend from Andover, too, was the only other student she knew.

“For awhile, I was pretty overwhelmed with high school, but I adjusted pretty quick,” she said.