17-year-old Ellie Claire Keller, also known as “Bugs” by her friends, is a senior at Madison High School. Ellie was born in Othello, Washington, and soon moved to Crossett, Arkansas. At the age of six, her family moved to Madison, South Dakota. She’s part of a family of six, which includes her parents, Trish and Brian; 2 siblings, Braeden and Tessia; and her dog, Otto. Ellie spends a good amount of time working with kids at the Community Center and in the Summer Program in Madison and her favorite part about this is “making connections with the kids”.
Some of Ellie’s favorite things include the color light purple, the movie The Parent Trap, Nautical Bowl, and chicken strips. In her free time, you can find Ellie running, shopping, cleaning, or hanging out with her best friends. Aside from Ellie’s many hobbies, she is also involved in multiple extracurricular activities. Ellie has been a part of the Madison gymnastics team since the age of six, competed on the cross country and track teams since middle school, and is also the President of the Best Buddies club. Traveling is something that piques Ellie’s interest; in fact, if she could have a superpower, she would choose the ability to fly, so she could go wherever she wants for free. If she could live in the world for a year, she would choose Greece.
After high school, Ellie plans to attend either Augustana University or the University of South Dakota to pursue a career in sports psychology and compete on the tumbling and acrobatics team. Ten years from now, Ellie hopes to be married with a couple of kids while working at a college. Her advice for underclassmen is, “Care less (but not with school work), don’t wait to study, and stay out of drama. Keep the drama in middle school”.