Currently, no restaurant in Wisconsin has a Michelin star, but there’s a rising star right here in English 12 who might change that some day. Driven by a passion that goes beyond herself, she’s like Spiderman – one of her favorite characters – as she guided by a sense of responsibility and care for others. She cooks for her siblings and recently learned sign language in order to better communicate with a colleague. She dreams of sharing her culinary creations with the world one day. She’s a star…she is Anna Olson.
Unlike Spiderman, however, Anna has a big family. She was adopted into a family consisting of three brothers and two sisters. She has one younger brother and the rest of her siblings are older. They have a family tradition of going to Las Vegas for a week each winter, staying at the same hotel each year, and sightseeing. Anna usually cooks for her family; when she turned 10 she decided that her food was better than her mom’s.
The scope of Anna’s cooking continues to broaden in complexity. This past summer, she served 500 people each day at Forest Springs, a family and youth camp. That’s the stuff of super heroes! Besides working this summer, she swam a lot and she learned sign language for the benefit of other people. She really liked her job because it was “awesome and fun.”
When she has time for herself, Anna enjoys running and watching soccer. She likes soccer because it’s easy to understand and she feels like it’s something she could do. Anna enjoys watching soccer because it isn’t played during a season with bad weather. She don’t have a favorite soccer team but her overall favorite team is the Packers. Besides sports, Anna likes to play the guitar because it’s relaxing and a way to express emotion.
Anna sees music as a way to express her emotions. When it’s hard to express how you feel to someone else, Anna uses music instead of her words. Anna’s favorite artist is Renee Rapp because she writes relatable music that has gotten her through some tough times. A lot of her songs are about self worth and sad love songs.
Something that isn’t sad is the fact that she actually has life goals. Her primary goal is to work as the head chef at Forest Springs as soon as she graduates. She likes cooking because it’s a way to learn about different cultures. Ultimately, she wants to open a high class restaurant of her own, her vision is to have several different cuisines. As Spiderman says, “With great power comes great responsibility.” She’s ready to accept the challenge.