Bailea Ramsey’s day starts around 6:30 a.m. What usually follows is a 12-hour-plus day of school, ROTC, rugby, work, volunteering, and managing the basketball team.
It’s a typical day for Bailea, but it’s not the typical day for a typical 18-year-old.
Born in North Carolina, Bailea has lived in the valley for about seven years, moving to Aspen when she was in the sixth, and then to New Castle before her sophomore year.
Bailea has been a member of the Junior ROTC at Glenwood Springs High School since she enrolled her sophomore year.
Like most 18-year-olds Bailea is looking forward to college. Unlike most high school seniors she knows what she wants to do after college before she makes the leap.
Through ROTC she has completed over 80 hours of community service and participated in many extracurricular activities including target competitions with air rifles.
Through her community services with the Junior ROTC including Ramsey has been able to work with veterans who come to town for fishing excursions.
“I think the Junior ROTC helped me, I want to go into the military eventually and I’ve always been interested in the medical field,” Ramsey said.
Leaning toward nursing, Bailea took a CNA class at CMC during the fall semester.
“I didn’t want to be a doctor, and thought about being an EMT for a while, but I think nursing is what I want to do.”
Internship opens doors
Last spring Bailea ended up missing the career expo held at Glenwood Springs High School, but through an email from her guidance counselor, she was able to apply for an internship at The Product Launch Company a local Glenwood business.
“It was like a thousand dollars for working over the summer, I was interested, so I applied for it,” Ramsey said.
Bailea worked 10 hours a week last summer The Product Launch Company. She performed so well that after the internship finished she was kept on working nearly full-time for the company owned by Pat Conarro.
SundayProfile-gpi-020220-2
Conarro said he couldn’t be happier with his decision to hire Bailea as an intern and later an employee.
“Bailea came in and was pretty shy, and even though they didn’t have anything in her field of interest we liked her attitude and her willingness to try,” Conarro said. “We soon learned that she was much more capable than just counting inventory and doing market research.”
Conarro said it took Bailea one day to do the tasks he had set aside for the internship.
So he decided to immerse Bailea into the business and gave her a project to research all the new laws as the state of Colorado transitions to 100 percent renewable energy, to coincide with their current project building a new type of wind turbine.
“Bailea has been an integral part here,” he said.
Bailea jumped into the project head-first and advised the company on new laws and helped reach out and set up meetings with congressmen and senators.
“Her job went into a lot of different areas. We can count on her to research and learn technologies and pick up the phone and call people,” Conarro said.
Bailea said through her work at The Product Launch Company she has been able to learn many new things including promoting the company, working on websites and building mobile apps.
“Even though the internship doesn’t apply to what I want to do in my career, I enjoy working at the company,” Ramsey said. “I’m gaining a lot of new skills, especially when talking with people.”
Ready for the next step
Bailea is enjoying her senior year as graduation approaches.
She has been looking back at the fun she had including being part of the Valley Valkyries Rugby Club the last two seasons.
“We finished third in the state this year,” Ramsey said.
When she isn’t going to school or working during the spring semester, she is managing the basketball team, where her duties include handing out gear, running the clock and keeping stats during games.
To help with the cost of college, Bailea has applied for several scholarships through junior ROTC, and is working a second job for Aspen Skiing Company in the daycare.
Bailea recently learned she has been accepted into Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina, and plans on enrolling in the fall as long as all her scholarships come through.
Conarro said he hopes Bailea will continue to work for the company while in school in South Carolina via a network they set up.
Planning for everything Bailea said if she doesn’t get her scholarships she will take a gap year to move and work in South Carolina to gain residency.
“I’m ready to graduate and go to college,” Ramsey said.
