MONTICELLO – Ellie Tanner can’t believe that her high school graduation is less than a month away. The Monticello senior will be graduating May 21 in a ceremony at the Sievers Center.
“It’s kind of crazy,” she said.
But Ellie is much more than just a graduating senior. She also plays soccer for the Sages, a key part of a team that just set a new record for wins in a season with 12. She is also a self-proclaimed “Theater nerd,” appearing in a couple of plays each year.
And also, she is in her third year of owning her own business, E’s Sweet Slice.
Last week, she took time out of her busy schedule to show the Daisy scouts from Girl Scout Troop #3121 how to decorate cookies and to tell them how she started her own business in 2020.
“I have learned a lot since then,” she told them. “But it’s pretty cool and what it taught me is that you can make a job out of anything you love to do. It doesn’t matter what you girls want to do, you can do it and it can be pretty fun.”
About five years ago, her mother bought her a cake decorating kit and then, she went to a cake decorating class.
She fell in love with it and decided to start her own business. She started filling orders with home-baked and decorated cookies and cupcakes and her specialty, cocoa bombs, filled with such treats as caramel, candy cane, marshmallows and/or rainbow sprinkles.
“I love baking and I grew up baking,” she said. “It’s so much fun and I love being able to share it with other people.”
Ellie shared with the girls how to decorate cookies.
“It is a little bit hard, but it just comes with practice,” she said. “Decorating requires work, creativity and knowing how to make the colors combine for the final outcome. Being hands on is a big part of it. You have to concentrate on your recipe and make sure you don’t have too much of one thing or to little of another.”
The girls, which included 13 kindergarten and first grade students at Monticello, enjoyed the visit.
“It’s great having Ellie talk to these girls,” said one of the troop leaders and high school math teacher Christyn Biswell. “She started her own business while in high school and that is such an inspirational story.”