![\"Samantha](\"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2014\/08\/samantha-horse3.jpg\" "\\"Samantha")
<\/a><\/p>\nACC veterinary student Samantha Keltgen of Elgin has cared for Starlight, a stray mare that escaped her neighbor’s yard several months ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It’s like bees to honey, the way animals seek out Samantha Keltgen. It was inevitable that a stray mare named Starlight would fall for her, too.<\/p>\n
“My neighbor couldn’t catch his horse after it got into our yard,” says Keltgen, a pre-veterinary student at Austin Community College. “He told me, ‘If you can handle her, you can keep her.'”<\/p>\n
That’s how Samantha corralled Starlight, and then Starlight’s colt, born a few months later.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nSamantha and her mixed-breed Pyrenees dog.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“An animal that doesn’t get along with very many people will come up to me to sit in my lap and ask for attention,” says Keltgen.<\/p>\n
Since she was 5 years old, Keltgen has wanted to be a veterinarian. “I was always reading about animals. When I heard you could become a vet and save lives, it clicked. That’s what I want to do.”<\/p>\n
Are you ACC? Tell us your story<\/a><\/h4>\nIt’s not all about horses, either. At her family’s home in Elgin, Keltgen has acquired one mixed-breed Pyrenees dog, two rabbits, one three-legged cat, and a firm plan for transforming her gift with animals into a career.<\/p>\n
“Someday I would love to be working at an equine vet clinic and having my own place for my horses and all my animals,” she says.<\/p>\n
Keltgen is close to completing ACC’s Associate of Science in Pre-Veterinary Medicine<\/a>, which transfers to Texas A&M University and other universities. She also is exploring the college’s Veterinary Technician Program<\/a>, which is based at the Elgin Campus<\/a> and offers an applied science degree that leads directly to the workforce rather than transfer.<\/p>\n“I know a few of the diseases that animals fight, but I’d like to know more and be able to do more,” she says. “I’m looking forward to learning more than I know about how to help animals.”<\/p>\n
It takes time and determination to reach her goals, but Samantha learned perseverance growing up in a military family.<\/p>\n
“Being military reinforces some of their core values that I put in life and school,” she says. “My dad has been my motivation to do well in school. He’s always pushed us to be the best that we can.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s like bees to honey, the way animals seek out Samantha Keltgen. It was inevitable that a stray mare named Starlight would fall for her, too. “My neighbor couldn’t catch his horse after it got … Continue reading
“I know a few of the diseases that animals fight, but I’d like to know more and be able to do more,” she says. “I’m looking forward to learning more than I know about how to help animals.”<\/p>\n
It takes time and determination to reach her goals, but Samantha learned perseverance growing up in a military family.<\/p>\n
“Being military reinforces some of their core values that I put in life and school,” she says. “My dad has been my motivation to do well in school. He’s always pushed us to be the best that we can.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s like bees to honey, the way animals seek out Samantha Keltgen. It was inevitable that a stray mare named Starlight would fall for her, too. “My neighbor couldn’t catch his horse after it got … Continue reading