Photo: Rachel Nadeau
Minnetonka High School student Anna Wander likes to travel—and she’s gone all over the world with her globetrotting family.
Our annual Senior Spotlight feature highlights the high school careers of some of the Lake Minnetonka area’s brightest young people. We talked to creative members of class of 2020 about high school (and beyond) and what art means to them. Read the other spotlights here: Jai Chadha, Grace Hanson, Vincent Cao
Minnetonka High School student Anna Wander likes to travel—and she’s gone all over the world with her globetrotting family. One of her favorite places to visit is northern Minnesota; her grandfather has a cabin on Lake Superior near Grand Marais. Hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail is one of the things she looks forward to when the family visits in the summer, which isn’t surprising when you find out that she’s a three-sport varsity athlete: cross country, track and Nordic skiing. As a senior this year, she’ll be a captain of the cross country and Nordic ski teams.
Last year alone, Anna took three AP classes: European history, literature and calculus BC. (We had to look that last one up. The College Board website says it is roughly equivalent to both first and second semester college calculus courses. Oof.) She also took the International Baccalaureate Spanish Language and Literature class.
She still finds time to explore a lot of interests. “Even though I have had a heavy course load,” she says, “I have also been able to take more laid-back, fun classes, such as drawing and culinary.” She’s also in community service clubs at school and is an active member of the Spanish club.
She isn’t yet sure where she’ll be heading for college next fall. She’ll be enjoying traveling to schools in Chicago and Colorado this year to help her decide.
And what does art mean to Anna? “It is anything that someone else has created that causes strong emotions in those who experience it. I am constantly impacted by art, as I love to draw, and I both sing in a choir and play the piano,” she says. “My favorite piece of artwork is probably an abstract painting that I have hanging in my room that my neighbor made for me.”
